
Glass__ .._,_._-_ 



Book_.^..K 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



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INDIA'S MILLIONS, 



A short account of the land and the people of India 
with a brief description of their manners and cus- 
toms, social evils, religious rites and cere- 
monies, etc., etc., and a short account 
of the author's experience. 



— BY— 

A. D. KHAN, 

Calcutta, India. 



" Long have they waited in the dark heathen lands 
For the pure living water from the dear Savior's hands; 
Still they are waiting for the gospel to come, 
Let us hasten to tell them of our heavenly home. " 



{Illustrated with cuts and maps. ) 



MOUNDSVILLE, W. Va. 

Gospel Trumpet Company, 
1903. 



THE LIBRARY OF 
CCNtiPeSS, 

(wo Copies Receive* 

AUG 1! 1903 

C*p>iifci>i fcntty 

CLASS ^ XXc No 

COPY B. 



Copyright, 1903, 

J i *,'* BY 

GosPHL Trumpet Company. 



PREFACE. 

During tlie camp-meeting held at 
Moundsville, W. Va., India's mil- 
lions—their miserable condition, thmr 
utter darkness, their crying need— 
which had been a burden on my soul, 
naturally sought expression. Near the 
close of this series of meetings I felt 
led to write something about India for 
the information of the church at large 
in this land. A brother's encouraging 
words gave me the first impetus toi the 
task, and at the suggestion of others 
I began at once to write a short de- 
scription of the land, and also the peo- 
ple I belong to, whom I love with a 
sincere love, and for whose salvation I 
am devoted to the Lord. 

Having only very limited time and 
leisure to give to this work, during fre^ 
quent travels in the States, and also a 
limited opportunity to collect mate- 
rials, I am afraid my work has not 
been complete. This small volume is 
by no means free from imperf ectionsi ; 
how far it will be satisfactory, is left 
with the reader to judge. 



Peefacb. 

Most of the material presented in 
these pages was collected from my per- 
sonal experience and contact with dif- 
ferent nations of the country ; and yet 
I have to acknowledge my indehted- 
ness to Miss Lucy E. Guiness, author 
of Across India at the Dawn of the 20th 
Century, to Dr. John Murdock,of Mad- 
ras, author of Religious History of 
India, The Principal Nations of India, 
etc., to John B. Mott, the author of The 
Evangelization of the World in this 
Generation, and to Annie W. Marston, 
the author of The Great Closed Land, 
whose helpful works I have consulted 
in the preparation of my sketch on 
India's millions. Besides these I owe 
my indebtedness to the ^* Student and 
the Missionary Problem'^ for sonae 
helpful diagrams. 

For various help in preparing the 
manuscript, reading proofs, etc., my 
sincere thanks are due to a number of 
the brethren engaged in the Lord's 
work at the Gospel Trumpet Office. 

The statistics have been compiled 
from various sources and corrected up 
to the latest information and reports. 
The account of the Khasi Hills was 



PKEPACEi. 

largely taken from the writings of Bro. 
W. M. Roy, of SMUong, and Bro. J. M. 
Roy, of Calcutta, to whom I am indebt- 
ed for their valuable help. The Scrip- 
tures quoted in the book will be found 
in some cases different from the read- 
ing of the Common Version, being 
usually quoted from the Revised En- 
glish Bible. 

I have tried to represent India's 
Millions as they are, and if I have 
missed the mark, it is because I have 
fallen short of it, and not gone beyond. 
I have not exaggerated the sad condi- 
tion of that dark land. I wish I could 
paint it as it really is. This is only a 
faint glimpse of things as they are. 

"I wish, oh, I wish that their helpless cry 

Could be heard by you ere they sink and die! 

It is such a mournful, low and bitter wail. 

Telling of searching, only to fail 

In finding the Truth, the Light, the Way; 

Ah, who pineth and longeth more than they?' ' 

May God bless the perusal of the 
following pages to every reader, and 
may the Holy Spirit who prompted 
their writing illuminate themi with 
heavenly light unto the glory of Jesus 
Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen. 

A. D. KHAN. 



CONTENTS. 

The Land 17 

Physical Features 17 

Political Divisions 22 

Chief Cities 25 

The People 29 

The Early Inhabitants 29 

The Aiyans 32 

Parsees 34 

Mohammedans, etc 35 

Manners and Customs 37 

Aborigines 37 

Dravidians 42 

Aryans 4^5 

(a) Bengalis, (6) Orij^s, (e) Hindustanis, 

(d) The Punjabis, (e) Mahrattas, (/) Gu- 
jeratis, (gr) Eajputs. 45-56 

Social Evils . ........ ...,,.., 57 

Marriage 57 

Purdah or Seclusion 64 

Widowhood 71 

Caste 75 

Religion 79 

Hinduism 80 

(a) Sacred Books, (6) Eeligious Kites, (c) 
Gods of the Hindus, (d) Avatars of the Gods, 

(e) Worship, (/) Temples and Priests, [g) 
Hindu Devotees 81-130 

Buddhism 130^ 

(a) Buddhist Books, (&) Buddhist Doctrine,! 
(c) Buddhist Precepts 133-138g 



Contents. 

Jaiuism 138 

Zoroastrianism 141 

Mohammedanism 144 

Sikhism 151 

Christianity in India 155 

Evangelization of India 157 

Necessity of Evangelization .... 162 

Criminal Silence 172 

Dark India (a poem) 177 

From Darkness into Light 179 

{Author's experience.) 

New Light 205 

Callto Work .'..... 215 

Our Home 228 

Khasi Hills 231 

Tibet 236 

Our Prospect 250 

The Evening Call {a hymn,) 260 

Appendix 261 



List of Illtistrations. 

An Ascetic Burying His Head 251 

Bathing in the Ganges 1 18 

Benares — Priests on the River Bank 87 

Bengali Country Home 49 

Bengal — Nomadic Tribe of 78 

Bengali Home 180 

Boats Carrying Goods 225 

Boats Carrying Passengers 47 

Bride and Bridegroom — Indian 59 

Buddhist Priest .137 

Buddha .131 

Bullock Cart 249 

Burmese Cab 23 

Calcutta— a Group from 229 

Country Road ... .186 

Demon Worshiped in Ceylon .30 

Female Bathing in the Ganges 255 

Ganesh 103 

Goddess Durga 101 

Hanuman 89 

Hindu Ascetic Sitting on Spikes 126 

Hindu Ascetic Burying His Head 128 

Hindu Ascetic with Both Hands Stiff. .125 

Hindu Ascetics 153 

Hindu Ascetic with One Stiff Hand and Arm 154 

Hurdwar on the Ganges 119 

Jagannath 104 

Jain Temple of Calcutta 139 

Kali— Goddess 99 

Kalighat— Temple of 26 

Khasi Village 232 

Krishna and His Wife 109 

Maidan — Calcutta 208 

Mohammedan Dress 36 

Mohammedan Festival — Id 149 

Monkey Temple — Benares 117 

Mundul— N. N. and Wife 218 

Portrait of the Author Frontispiece. 



List of Illustrations. 

Kiver Soene in BeiigaL. 19 

Silver Palanquins 66 

Steamer Station in Bengal 203 

Street-car— Old Fashioned 28 

Tibetan Bridal Party 254 

*' Carrying the dead 244 

" Priest Casting Out Evil 238 

" Taking Evil Out of the Land 240 

" Woman Turning Prayer- wheel 246 

Tower of Silence 143 

Village Market 221 

Wife — Nine-year-old 60 

Worshiping Tulsi 97 

Maps and Diagrams. 

Colored Map of India between 24j 25 

Map of Bogra 216, 217 

Population of Globe and India 261 

Area of Globe and India 262 

Population of U. S. A. and India ... 263 

Area of U. S. A 264 

Area of India 265 

Education in India 266 

Religions of India 267 

Women and Girls of India 268 

India's Boys and Girls 269 

Possibilities of Personal Work 270 



INTRODUCTION. 

India is considered a heathen land, 
notwithstanding the fact of it being un- 
der the government of a Christian na^ 
tion, and that missionaries have 
invaded its territory constantly for 
many years. While some here andt 
there are learning of the true God, 
and accepting the faith of our Lord 
and Savior Jesus Christ, tiie masses 
of the people are still worshiping 
idols. Many of tih.em are living bar- 
barous lives, while others are civi- 
lized, yet strangers to the Lord of 
heaven.. 

The inspired words, '^Ask of me, 
and I shall give thee the heathen for 
thine inheritance," is more vividly 
portrayed to our minds as' we have 
the situation and present condition of 
the heathen nations pictured before 
us. It awakens a chord of sympathy, 
and brings to remembrance a neglect- 
ed dutr toward peri'shing souls who 
kEKow not how to serve the true smS' 
living Grod. This volume, *'indta's' 
MILLIONS," contains miuch valuable in- 



Inteoduction. 

formation, not only about that country, 
but about its people, their customs, 
beliefs, various kinds of worship, 
manner of living, etc., during the past 
and at the present time. 

The author being a native of that 
country, having been converted from 
Mohammedanism, and having trav- 
eled over the land among the various 
tribes, is competent to present the 
facts concerning these people. 

Comparatively few people in Chris- 
tian lands know of the suffering and 
savage practises among heathen na- 
tions. The manner and custom of sac- 
rificing to heathen gods, and a descrip- 
tion of the things sacrificed, vividly 
impress one with the great need of 
their enlightenment. 

The author not only produces a 
compilation of facts from other writ- 
ers, but speaks from personal knowl- 
edge, and the reader is assured of the 
reliability of what is presented. Hav- 
ing been present with him during the 
writing of the manuscript, while he 
was on a tour in America in behalf of 
the people of India, it is my desire that 
it be widely circulated, and I feel as- 



Introduction. 

sured that it will be both instructive 
and of intense interest, and will meet 
the approval of the reader. 

Wishing the blessings of God upon 
it and those who peruse its pages, I 
remain 

Yours in Him, 

E. E. Byrum. 

Moundsville, W. Va., U. S. A. 
July 1», 1903. 



The Land. 



"The kingdom of the world is become the kingdom 
of our Lord, and of his Christ: and he shall reign for 
ever and ever." Kev. 11: 15. 

PHysical Feattires. 

Because of its most diversified sur- 
face and varied scenery, India has 
rightly been called ' ' an epitome of the 
world." Its lofty mountains with per- 
petual snow-clad tops, its extensive and Natural scen- 
^ ery. 

fertile plains with rich verdure and 

luxuriant foliage, its vast and numer- 
ous watercourses, its sunny sandbanks 
and extensive coast-lines— all contrib- 
ute in making India one of the most 
beautiful countries. Almost all the 
different climates of the world can be 
found in India; possessing as it does 
a great variety of landscape, vegeta- 
tion and natural features, it is indeed 
a multum in parvo of the world. 

In the north the Himalayan regions, 
with the loftiest mountain in the 
world, reaching an elevation of 29,002 
feet, far above the clouds, have 

17 



18 



IJMDIA S MILLIONS. 



Area. 



an icy cold climate. In the sontli the 
intense sunshine, and the equatorial 
heat make it almost unbearable, while 
the temperate and mild climate on the 
plains form a happy medium between 
the two extremes, and is very pleasant 
and agreeable. But the people of the 
land are perhaps more diversified in 
color and stature, temperament and 
nature than the natural scenery. 

India is by no means a small coun- 
try. It forms the central peninsula of 
southern Asia. It is bounded by the 
Himalayan mountains on the north, 
and the great Indian Ocean on the 
south, by the bay of Bengal and the 
transgangetic peninsula on the east, 
and the Arabian Sea and Afghanistan 
on the west. The total area is 1,559,603 
square miles, equal to half the area of 
the United States, or the whole of Eu- 
rope, Eussia excepted. Compared to 
the area of the habitable earth it is 
one-fifteenth of the globe. 

The great mountains are Himalayas 
in the north, Solaiman in the west, 
Bindhya range in the south, the east- 
ern and western Ghats on the two sea- 
coasts. Besides there are hills and 



PHYSICAL FEATURES. 19 

forests almost all over the land except- 
ing the plains. The great tableland of 
northern India has an elevation of 
about 2,000 feet above the sea-level. 

The river system of India is on a 
grand scale. The Ganges with a course 



Rivers. 




A RIVEE SCENE IN BENGAL. 

of 1,500 miles on the northeast, to- 
gether with its tributaries, drains 
about 500,000 square miles. The In- 
dus taking its rise in the north trav- 
erses the northwestern part of the 
country, and w^itli its ^ve tributaries 
drains about 400,000 square miles, 
while Brahmaputra has a course of 600 



20 India's millions. 

miles in Indian territory alone. Eight- 
een rivers water the east side of In- 
dia, the principals being Godavary, 
830 miles long ; Kristna, 800 ; Kavery, 
470; Mahanadi, 520; Brahmani, 400. 
There are twenty others on the west 
side, of which the Nurbudda, 800 miles 
long, and the Tapti, 400, are the most 
noteworthy. 

Vegetation of India is as varied as 
its soil and climate. Kice is the prin- 
Vegetation. cipal food, and grows in abundance 
wherever irrigation is practised. In the 
northwestern provinces maize (corn) 
and wheat are cultivated with great 
success. Opium is one of the most 
valuable but pernicious products of 
the country. Cotton and jute are also 
produced and extensively exported to 
foreign lands. Tea, coffee, and tobac- 
co are largely cultivated. Indigo is one 
of the important products. The im- 
proved implements of husbandry are 
unknown in India. Wooden ploughs 
are drawn by bullocks or buffaloes. 
Almost all the implements are made of 
wood or bamboo. There are no sow- 
ing or reaping-machines, everything 
is done by hand. 



PHYSICAL FEATURES. 21 

Beautiful palm groves, the shady 
avenues of banyan trees, the umbra- 
geous mango topes form the character- 
istic features of Indian scenery. Man- 
goes, jack fruits, wood apples, tama- 
rinds, cocoanuts, areca nuts, pomegran- 
ates, oranges, bananas, palms, dates, 
apples, pears, peaches, grapes, lemons, 
melons, papitas and pineapples are 
the principal fruits. Cabbage, cauli- 
flower, beets, potatoes, onions, garlic, 
ginger, and saffron are some of the 
vegetable products. 

Besides the ordinary domestic ani- 
mals, India has the elephant, camel, Animals. 
hum.ped ox, yak, and Kashmir goat. 
The Bengal tiger is the most formida- 
ble of wild beasts. There are also leop- 
ards, wolves, jackals, panthers, bears, 
hyenas, lynxes and foxes. Several 
varieties of poisonous snakes are also 
found, and there is an average of 2,700 
deaths in ayear from snake bites alone. 

Having such a great variety of ele- 
vation and surface, the climate of In- 
dia must differ greatly. There are Climate. 
three well-marked seasons in northern 
India— the winter, the summer, the 
rainy. The cool months are November, 



Mineral prod- 
ucts. 



22 INDIANS MILLiOKS. 

December, January and part of Feb- 
ruary. The climate of South India is 
greatly influenced by monsoons, pre- 
vailing in southern Asia. Mean tem- 
perature of Calcutta 78 degrees, with 
an average rainfall of 65.6 inches; 
Bombay, 80 degrees, rainfall 74.4 
inches ; Madras, 82 degrees, rainfall 
49.1 inches. 

(^al, iron, and rock salt are the 
principal mineral products. Gold, sil- 
ver, cox)per, lead, antim±ony, tin, salt- 
peter and petroleum are also obtained. 

Political Divisions. 

There are eight large provinces, and 
four small states, under the direct rule 
of the British govermiient. 

Under Lieutenant-Governors. 

1. BENGAL. — Situated in the northeast on the bay 
of Bengal, forming the basin of the lower Ganges, 
Area, 187,222 square miles, with a poinilation of 
81,000,000. Capital city, Calcutta. 

2. NORTHWEST FEOVINCES AND OUDH. — Situated 

on the northwest of Bengal along the foot of the 
Himalayas, forming the main basin of the Upper 
Ganges and the Jumna, its main tributary. Area, 
107,503 square miles. Population, 49,000,000. 
Capital city, Allahabad. 

3. THE PUNJAB (including Beluchistan). — Situa- 
ted on the northwestern frontier, watered by the 
five tributaries of the Indus. Area, 110,667 square 



POLITICAL DIVISIONS. 23 

miles. Population, 27,000,000. Capital city, La- 
hore. 

Under Governors. 

4. MADRAS PRESIDENCY.— Lies along the East 
coast, from Bengal to the south. Area, 141,189 
square miles. Population, 41,000,000. Capital city, 
Madras. 

5. BOMBx^Y PRESIDENCY. — Situated on the west 
coast of India, from Beluchistan to Mysore. Area, 
125,144 square miles. Population, 26,000,000. 
Capital city, Bombay. 

Under Chief Commissioners. 

6. CENTRAL PROVINCES. — Those form the northern 
part of the Deccan. Area, 86,501 square miles. 
Population, 12,000,000. Capital city, Nagpur. 

7. ASSAM. — Assam forms the valley of the 
Lower Brahmaputra, along the Himalayas. Area, 
49,004 square miles. Population, 6,000,000. Chief 
city, Shillong. 

8. BURMA. — East of Bengal and Assam. Area, 



A BURMESE CAB. 



24 INDIANS MILLIONS. 

171,430 square miles. Population, 10,000,000. 
Chief city, Mandalay. 

The four smaller states of A j mere, Berar, Coorg 
and the Andaman Islands, are under the direct 
administration of the Governor-General of India. 

The Chief Native States^ 
They cover an area of over 600,000 
square miles, with a population of 
more than 66,000,000. They vary 
greatly in size. There are about 800 
native states, but only 200 are of any 
importance. The following are the 
most important ones. 

1. BAJPUTANA.— Consists of twenty-one states 
south of the Punjab. Chief town, Jaipur. 

2. CENTRAL INDIA. — Comprises an agency of over 
eighty-two native states, lying between Eajputana 
and the Central Provinces. Chief town, Indore. 

3. HAIDAEABAD. — Haidarabad is a large territory 
on the Central Deccan. Chief city, Haidarabad. 

4. MYSORE.— Mysore is south of Haidarabad. 
Chief city, Bangalore. 

5. BARODA.— North of Bombay. Consists of six 
native states. Chief city, Baroda. 

6. KASHMIR.— Kashmir is in Valley of the Him- 
alayas, north of the Punjab. Chief city, Srinagar. 

7. NEPAL.— North of the Northwestern Provinces, 
on the Himalayas, and is a mountainous region. 
Capital, Katmandu. 

8. BHUTAN.— This is a petty Himalayan state, 
and inaccessible to foreigners. Capital, Tassisudon. 

These last two states are closed against the Gos- 
pel. No missionaries are allowed to enter these 
countries. 




India 



^*^^effree Channel 
SCALE OF STATUTE MiLES. ' 4i^'^^vM,,J'\.^ ^ 

or.0 100 200 300 490 3.ow...:ra M-. ^^«. "• ^ %t?^i2 

IDon^raJi 



PREPARED FOR INDIA'S} 



90" 100° 







S BY MR. A. D. KHAN. 



CHIEF CITIES. 25 



Ctiief Cities of India. 

1. CAI.CUTTA.— On the Ganges, and eighty milea 
from the Bay of Bengal. It is the flourishing cap- 
ital of British India, and the residence of the Gov- 
ernor-General and Viceroy. On account of its mag- 
nificent buildings, Calcutta is often called **The 
city of Palaces"; and it so unites the luxury of 
the East and the West that it has often been 
styled the ''London and Paris" of Asia. As a 
port its trade is immense. Including Howrah, on 
the other side of the river, with which it is con- 
nected by a bridge, it is the second largest city in 
the British Empire. Population, 1,698,310. (Calcut- 
ta and suburbs.) 

2. BOMBAY.— In Bombay Presidency, on the west 
coast. Is one of the most beautiful cities of the 
East. In commerce it stands next to Calcutta. 
It is the capital of Bombay Presidency. Population, 
822,000. 

3. MADRAS. — Capital of Madras Presidency, on 
the Bay of Bengal. Population, 509,346. 

4. HAIDAE.ABAD. — Capital of the Deccan. Popula- 
tion, 415,000. 

5. LUCKNOW. — In the Northwest Provinces. Cap- 
ital of Oudh. Population, 273,000. 

6. BENARES. — In the Northwest Provinces. The 
sacred city of the Hindus, on the Ganges. There 
are over 1,000 Hindu temples. It is a pilgrim, 
rather than an industrial city. Population, 
219,000. 

7. DELHI.— Ancient capital of India, a place of 
great historic importance. Population, 193,000. 

8. MANDALAY.— In Burma. Ancient capital of 
Burma. Population, 189,000. 

9. CAWNPUR. — In the Northwest Provinces. Noted 
for its memorable siege and the horrible mas- 



26 



INDIA S MILLIONS. 




.^im *,^m.m^ 



A^iP^ 



CHIEF CITIES, ■ 27 

sacre during tlie mutiny of 1857. Population, 
189,000. 

10. BANGALORE.— Capital of Mysore, situated on 
the beautiful plateau of the Deccan. It is famous as 
a sanitarium. Population, 180,000. 

11. RANGOON.— In Lower Burma, on the Ira- 
wadi. Population, 180,000. 

12. LAHORE. — Capital of the Punjab. An ancient 
city. Population, 177,000. 

13. ALLAHABAD.— Capital of the Northwest Prov- 
inces, situated on the Jumna. Population, 175,000. 

14. AGRA.— In the Northwest Provinces, noted 
for ''The Taj," one of the most beautiful build- 
ings in the world, built upon the tomb of one of 
the Indian Queens. 

15. PATNA. — In Bengal. Population, 105,000. 
10. POONA.— In Bombay, was capital of the 

Mahratta Princes. Population, 101,000. 

17. JAIPUR.— In Rajputana. Ote of the chief 
cities of Eajput states. Population, 159,000. 

18. AHMAD ABAD. — In Bombay. Population, 
148,000. 

19. AMRiTSAR. — In the Punjab. For some 
time it was the capital of the Sifeh chiefs. Popula- 
tion, 137,000. 

20. BAREJTJ.Y. — In the Northwest Provinces. 
Population, 121,000. 

21. MEERUT. — Is in the Northwest Provinces. Pop- 
ulation, 119,000. 

22. SRiNAGAR.— Is thc capital of Kashmir. 
Population, 119,000. 

23. NAGPUR. — Capital of the Central Provinces. 
One of the ancient capitals of the Mahratta 
chiefs. Population, 117,000. 

24. HOWRAH. — Iq Bengal. The other side of the 
Ganges, 0])posite to Calcutta, with which it is 
joined by a bridge. Population, 117,000. 

25. BARODA.— In Bombay Presidency, under the 
Gaehivar of Baroda, a native chief. Population, 
110,000. 

20. SURAT. — Is an important cotton port in 



28 INDIANS MIUuIONS. 

Bombay. The first English factory of the East 
India Company was established here in 1612. 
Population, 109,000. 

27. KARACHI.— Is a great port in Sindh, one of 
the divisions of the Punjab. Population, 105,000. 

28. GWALiOR. — Is in the Centrallndian Agency. It 
is a place of historic importance. Population, 
104,000. 

Numerous other cities with population less than 
100,000, we do not mention. 




AN INDIAN STEEET-CAB. 



THe People. 



"God hath made of one blood all nations of 
men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and 
hath determined the times before appointed, and 
the bounds of their habitation; that they should 
seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, 
and find him. ' ' Acts 17 : 26, 27. 

Tlie Early Inliabitants 
of India. 

The. ahorigines.—lndm was inhab- 
ited, from prehistoric times, by: a sav- tribes.'"^ 
age race of people generally supposed 
to be Negritos— a small black negro- 
like race spread over the eastern archi- 
pelago. They seem to have been in 
the rudest state of society, called the 
Hunting Stage, and lived on wild ani- 
mals, fruits and roots. 

The northeastern tribes.— Ki a very 
early period some tribes from central 
Asia crossed over to India by the 
northeastern passes and settled near 
the foot of the Himalayas. 

Other tribes succeeded them by the 
same route and proceeded southwest- 
erly further in the country; these are 

29 



30 



INDIA S MILLIONS. 



called the Kolarians, and in the south- 
west of Bengal their descendants can 




A DEMON WOESHIPED IN CEYLON. 



Dravidian 
tribes. 



THE EAELY INHABITANTS. 31 

still be found in different hilly tracts, 
in an uncivilized savage state. Tliey 
number about 2,000,000. 

D rav idian tribes. — Dravidians — the 
ancestors of the principal nations of 
southern India seem to have entered 
India by the northwestern passes and 
settled further down the country. All 
these early inhabitants of India w^ere a 
semi-barbarous, half civilized people. 
They believed in one supreme God, 
buttheyworshiped— asclo some of their 
descendants even to-day— demons or 
evil spirits, who, they believe,^ inflict 
punishment ani bring misery upon 
them. 

Demonolatry still prevails in India, Their reiig- 
especially among the hill tribes. Sir 
Moiiier William says : 

"The great majority of the inhabitants of In- 
dia are, from the cradle to the burning-ground, 
victims of a form of mental disease, which is best 
expressed by the term demonophobia.* They are 
haunted and op^jressed by a perpetual dread of 
demons. They are firmly convinced that evil spir- 
its of all kinds, fromi malignant fiends to merely 
mischievous imps and elves, are ever on the watch 
to harm, harass and torment them, to cause 
plague, sickness, famine and disaster, to impede, 
injure and mar every good work. ' ' 

* Fear of evil spirits. 



ioiis faith. 



The Aryan 
stock. 



32 India's millions. 

THe Aryans. 

After the Kolarian and Dravidian 
races settled in their respective divi- 
sions, there came the great body of peo- 
ple called the Aryans, who entered 
India from the northwest. They are 
supposed to be a great branch of the 
same people who went westward, set- 
tled in Europe, and became the fore- 
fathers of the principal European 
nations. Before their separation, cen- 
tral Asia seems to have been their 
common ancestral home. But some 
are of opinion that it was somewhere 
in Russia in Europe. Be that as it 
may, this much is certain, that the an- 
cestors of the Greek, Roman, and 
Indian Aryan nations lived together 
several thousand years ago. The won- 
derful similarities existing between 
Sanskrit (Indian language), Greek, 
Latin, German and Celtic languages 
corroborate the above. Professor Max 
Muller says : 

' ' Many words still live in India and in England, 
that have witnessed the first separation of the 
Northern and Southern Aryans, and these are wit- 
nesses not to be sh?\en by cross-examination. 
The terms for God, for house, for father, mother, 



THE ARYANS. 33 

son, daughter, for dog, and cow, for heart and 
tears, for ax and tree, identical in all the Indo- 
European idioms, are like the watchwords of 
soldiers. We challenge the seeming stranger, and 
whether he answers with the lips of a Greek, a 
German or an Indian, we recognize him as one 
of ourselves." 

After the eastern Aryans were 
parted from their west-bound branch 
they parted again into two divisions, 
the one stock, the early settlers in invasion and 
Persia— the ancestors of the Par sees conquest. 
of to-day— peopled near the Caspian 
Sea, whereas the other pressed for- 
ward toward India, crossed the, moun- 
tain ranges, forded the great Indus 
and settled in the country. They had 
to fight their way, however, against 
the aborigines— black tribes, whom 
they defeated in battle. Some of them 
became subjects to the Aryan invaders 
and served their conquerors as slaves, 
while the rest fled into the mountains 
and forests, where their descendants 
can be found even to-day, remaining 
in the same backward, uncivilized con- 
dition. Some of these tribes are still 
naked and live like wild beasts. 

The Aryans at first were all farmers, 
and their name seems to have origi- 



34 India's millions. 

nated from the root AR, which both in 
Greek and in Latin signifies a plough. 
In modern Sanskrit the word arya 
means noble. But by and by they found 
the necessity of division of labor and 
profession, and according to occupa- 
tion four different castes were formed ; 
viz., the priests, the warriors, the trad- 
ers, and the servants. Kings and lead- 
ers would always be selected from the 
warrior class. 

Thus they went on conquering and 
Kingdom?. ^q conquer until they became sole mas- 
ters of the whole of northern India, 
building great cities and founding ex- 
tensive empires. One dynasty after 
another reigned, great battles were 
fought, nations rose and fell until they 
were defeated by the inroads of the 
Mohammedan conquerors. 

Parsees. 

Before the Mohammedan empire was 
founded in India, the Parsees came to 
India. Their land was conquered by 
the Mohammedan Arabs, and to escape 
persecution and suffering they fled for 
refuge in India. They settled mostly 



MOHAMMEDANS. 35 

on the west coast. Further mention of 
them will be made hereafter. 

Moliammedaiis. 

Mohammed Kasim, an Arab general 
under the Khaliph of Bugdad, invaded 
India as early as 711 A. D. But this 
was not a lasting conquest. For several 
hundred years Mohammedan conquer- 
ors invaded the country from the 
northwest, defeated the native chiefs, 
killed the inhabitants, plundered the 
treasuries, pillaged the temples, and 
carried away immense booties from 
the country. But it was not until 
1193 A. D., that a lasting conquest was 
made, which resulted in founding a 
Mohammedan empire in India, and 
caused the final overthrow of the Ar- 
yan kingdoms. Mohammedans reigned 
in India until 1765 A. D., when 
the English began to take the ruling 
power in their hands. 

Besides these nations there are 
a number of Portuguese, English, 
French, and also some Jews, 



36 



INDIA S MILLIONS. 




MOHAMMEPAN DRE^S, 



Manners and 
Customs. 



Aborigines. 

The descendants of the primitive in- 
habitants of India who lived in the 
hills and forests are living in the same 
state of darkness and ignorance as ^^ aborig- 

,, . 1 £ J.' • 1 ""a' tribes. 

their ancestors from time immemorial. 
They are found all over the country. 
They dress scantily, or some of them 
do not dress at all. Most of them have 
a piece of cloth around their waist— 
both men and women. They live upon 
wild beasts and fruits, some of them 
are omnivorous, eating almost any- 
thing—frogs, snakes, reptiles, rats, 
rotten fish, elephants, horses, and any 
other animals form their delicious ar- 
ticles of food. Their houses are very 
poor, and generally made of pieces of 
wood or bamboo put together, thatched 
with leaves of trees or weeds. 

Polygamy is practised freely, often 
one man having three or four wives at 

37 



38 India's millions. 

the same time. But tlie opposite is also 
the case in some places, that is to say, 
three or four men marry one wife. 
The marriage tie is very loose, wives 
are disposed of as domestic animals. If 
Marriage. it does not suit, the Contract is broken, 
the man and woman are free then to 
marry whomsoever they choose. 

There are some tribes not far from 
Bengal who marry the mother and the 
child together; that is to say, if the 
wife is too young her mother comes to 
her home and lives with the son-in-law 
as wife, until the daughter is old 
enough to take charge of the home. 
Such is the barbarous custom prevail- 
ing among them. This, however, is 
happily not the case everywhere. 

Of many of these tribes women gen- 
erally labor hard in the field, while the 
men folks are comparatively lazy. 
Among some tribes girls alone inherit 
paternal property, boys do not get 
anything. So when a boy gets mar- 
ried he leaves home, father and mother, 
and goes to his wife 's house and lives 
there as a member of their family. 
Hence girls are more valuable and de- 



ABOBIGINES. 39 

sir able than boys. But in other places 
precisely the opposite is the case. 

Agriculture of a poor kind is the 
main profession of these aboriginal 
tribes. Many live by selling wood in 
the neighboring towns and villages. 

In Central India there is a tribe of 
hill people, who were found even 
lately to practise human sacrifice. 
When their fields became unproduc- 
tive, they had a strange way of 
fertilizing them. They used to go out 
in the plains sometimes by stealth and 
kidnap a child from the neighbor- 
ing country. They brought the child 
under a shady tree and gathered 
around him with their sharp weapons, 
and each one cut a part of his flesh and 
buried it in his field, by which they be- 
lieved their field would produce more 
crops. Though this custom was 
officially abolished by the British gov- 
ernment, it is believed to be still carried 
on in some parts in secret. 

Utensils of the rudest kind are in 
use among these savage tribes. They 
generally use leaves of trees for plates 
or cups ; in some places wooden, earth- 
en or stone cups or vessels can be seen. 



Human 
sacrifice. 



40 INDIANS MILLIONS. 

A dog is sometimes fed with rice and 
curry, and then killed on the spot ; and 
Peculiar food afterwards they roast the dead dog on 
lire, baking the contents of its stomach 
at the same time. This roast with the 
baked rice inside becomes one of the 
most delicious dishes among some of 
these savage nations, and is often 
served at special feasting times. 

Among the Burmese a kind of rotten 
fish, preserved in jars for months until 
v/orms are generated in the same, is 
one of the special dishes. 

These nations generally put on a 
kind of coarse cloth (what little they 
use) made by themselves; some of 
them put on skins or bark of trees. 

Many of these aboriginal tribes do 
not know the use of salt. They use a 
kind of ashes prepared from some 
vegetable containing a great propor- 
tion of soda or potash. 

Most of these tribes are fond of 
tattooing their bodies, especially wom- 
en. They are also fond of jewels and 
ornaments made of brass or bell-metal. 
' ' Some of the women wear very heavy 
bracelets, armlets, and anklets of bell- 
metal. It is a singular sight to see 



ABORIGINES. 41 

the young women at a market subject- 
ing themselves to the torture of being 
fitted with a pair of these anklets. They 
are made so that they can just, with 
great violence, be forced on. The 
operation is performed by the manu- 
facturers, who put moistened leather 
on the heel and instep to prevent re- 
moval of the skin. The girl clinging 
to and resting on one of her companions 
cries bitterly at the violence inflicted 
on her, and the operation is a long one ; 
but when it is over she admires her 
decorated foot and instep, and smiles 
through her tears."* Often both 
arms from elbows upwards and down- 
wards to the wrists are full of armlets, 
and several pairs of anklets of various 
shapes and sizes around their ankles, 
the whole weighing sometimes ten or 
fifteen pounds. 

Some of these tribes have bunches of 
earrings all around the ear, often sev- 
eral rings put in the same hole until 
the ear skin gives way. Among them 
whoever has the most rings is the high- 
est in social rank. Both men and 

* The Principal Nations of India. Madras. 



Jewels and 
ornaments. 



42 INDIANS MILLIONS. 

women put on such rings in many 
places. Others have nose rings and 
also necklaces. Earthen ornaments 
and jewels painted with lac or sealing- 
wax coating are also in use among 
them. Some of them wear a kind of 
turban, but others go bareheaded. 

These aboriginal tribes number 
about ten million all over the country— 
double the population of the whole of 
the Dominion of Canada. Just think 
of it! 

Dravidians. 

Besides the aboriginal tribes men- 
tioned above, there are two main bod- 
ies of people in India— the Dravidian 
races and the Aryan stock. But as 
they are so much divided and subdi- 
vided into great nationalities differing 
greatly in manners and customs, men- 
tion ought to be made of them sepa- 
rately in order to do justice to the 
cause. But time and space will not 
allow us to enter into an elaborate 
description at present. All that can be 
attempted would be a brief outline of 
the subject. 



DEAVIDIANS. 43 

The Dravidian races mostly inJiabit 
the southern part of India, in different 
provinces, and are divided into the p^^p'® <>* 

. . southern 

principal nations of Telegu, Tamil, in6\a. 
Canarese, and Malay alls. Each of 
these tribes has a language of their 
own, each tribe having more or less 
peculiar manners and customs. 

The people are darker in complex- 
ion, and smaller in stature than those 
of northern India, but are very hardy 
and intelligent. Among all these na- 
tions there is a custom of men keeping 
long hair on the crown of their heads, 
shaving all around. And their women 
have more freedom to go out than their 
northern sisters. The women dress 
more decently than the men, it seems. ^. . 

•^ ' Chewing 

There is a universal custom among pan. 
them to chew pan like the rest of the 
Indians. This is a kind of leaf of a 
creeper, which is taken together with 
pieces of areca nut called ^^supari/' 
lime (mineral), and catechu. This 
compound, when chewed, helps to pro- 
duce saliva in the mouth and colors 
both lips and tongue a deep red. They 
are very fond of using this prepara- 
tion always after meals, and several 



Tobacco. 



44 India's millions. 

times during the day. In Soutli India 
cocoannt pieces are also put with it 
in addition to areca nut, lime (miner- 
al), and catechu. 

In India if a visitor comes to your 
home, it would be altogether bad man- 
ners and betray your inhospitality and 
lack of sociability if you do not offer 
him ''pan/' at least. 

The custom of chewing tobacco is 
also practised among men as well as 
women. In some parts a preparation 
of tobacco-leaf powder is made and 
used with pan, together with other 
congruents. This is prevalent among 
the women more than among men in 
Bengal and universally used in Orissa. 

Tobacco grows in the country in 
abundance, and ship-loads come from 
abroad, so smoking is increasing every 
day. Little boys of eight and ten can 
be seen in the streets smoking Ameri- 
can tobacco. Tobacco is used as a 
social indulgence, and is the most com- 
mon way of entertaining a visitor 
almost all over the country. There are 
other intoxicating plants also used in 
some form or another among the 
people. 



Head-dress. 



ARYANS. 45 

South India is somewliat poor in 
architecture, though the Tamil people 
are noted as great temple builders. 
Most of the ancient houses are made 
of clay, while stone is extensively 
used for building at present. 

Another feature that strikes a stran- 
ger in southern India, is the peculiarity 
of their head-dress. Men wear various 
kinds of turbans, white, red, or purple. 
They never go without it, though you 
will find them going about barefooted. 
Even those that put on European 
costumes do not care for shoes or 
boots. 

Aryans. 



The Aryans are divided into many 
nations and races, but Bengalis, 
Oriyas, Hindustanis, Punjabis, Mar- p^«p;^,„**Jj^, 
hattas, Grujaratis, and Rajputs, are the 
principal of them. 

Covering an extensive territory of 
the country, as they do, their manners 
and customs vary a great deal from 
each other, as do their languages. So 
we shall attempt a short separate 
account of them, 



46 India's millions. 



The Bengfalis. 



i i 



In Bengal proper/'* says Mr. 
Beverley/ 'wehave apeople physically 
distinct from any other race in India. 
Official _ Whether, on the one hand, they are 
* to be attributed to climatic influences 
and the natural characteristics of the 
country, or, on the other, to the great 
infusion of aboriginal blood, that 
people presents national peculiarities 
sufficient to identify it in any part of 
the world. Living amid a network of 
rivers and morasses, and nourished on 
a watery rice diet, the semi-amphib- 
ious Bengali in appearance belongs to 
a weak and puny race, yet he is able to 
endure an amount of exposure to which 
the up-country Hindustani would soon 
fall a victim. In active pursuits the 
Bengali is timid and slothful, but in 
intellect he is subtle and sharp-witted ; 
and these latter qualities, combined 
with the plodding industry and natural 
fondness for sedentary employments, 
have carried him into government 
offices all over the country, and raised 

* Census Beport of Bengal, 1872 



THE BENGALIS. 



47 



him to some of the highest judicial 
posts in the land.'' 

This is a brief description by a 
government official of a people who 
number over forty million (more than 
half the population of the entire 
United States ) , and inhabit the north- 
eastern corner of India. 

The province of Bengal being a low 
plain, and having an abundant supply Bengar 
of water, is almost all inundated 
during the rainy season (froin July to 



Rains in 




BOATS FOE CARRYING PASSENGERS. 



September) , when the river-beds swell 
to overflowing and the whole country 
presents the appearance of one vast 



48 India's millions. 

sheet of water. Houses, however, are 
built high above the surface, so as to 
remain above water, like islands sur- 
rounded by water. But in case of 
abundant rains, houses are often over- 
flooded bringing extreme suffering to 
people. They have to travel during 
this time by boats and canoes. Nearly 
every house possesses one or more of 
them ; and in some places they can not 
go out of their homes except in a boat. 
They go out shopping or selling to the 
market in canoes or boats. They come 
to meetings in boats. Boats are the only 
means of conveyance during this time. 
In the dry season the country is free 
from water, and one can walk from 
village to village. Bullock carts with 
small bamboo thatched roofs are used 
as conveyance in-some parts of Bengal 
during the dry season. 

The people generally live in vil- 
Bengaiihome ^^g^^, and are mostly farmers, but a 
life. great number of them are now going 

to school and pursuing literary prd 
fessions. 

Bengali cottages are built of mud 
or mat, bamboos and straw. The walls 
^re either built of mud or made of 



THE BENGALIS. 49 

mat or straw. The posts (pillars) are 
either of bamboo or wood. The roof 




A BENGALI COUNTRY HOME. 

is generally thatched with straw on a 
framework of bamboo, sloped to shed 
the water easily. 

Numerous rivers in the country 
make bridges a necessity for the 
convenience of traveling. These 
bridges are often made of bamboo 
and can be easily moved or put up in 
case of necessity. Many of the rivers 
have boat ferries, pulled from shore 
to shore either by oars or by ropes 
fastened to the boats from both sides 
of the river. 



50 



Eice is the principal product, and 
the staple food of Bengal. Fish form 
an important article of food, and are 
found in the rivers in abundance. 
Vegetables are also to be had in plenty, 
and are used freely. 

There is a custom of wearing wood- 

Wooden i i i • j i j. 

shoes. ^^ shoes or sandals m the country, 

sometimes with leather straps and 
sometimes with wooden knobs to keep 
them on. 

Spoons and forks are not in use in 
general, but are being introduced in 
more advanced society. Most of the 
people use their fingers in eating. 
They sit on the floor to eat; some on 
mats and carpets, others on low wood- 
en stools, but always crossed-legged ; 
some sit down in the kitchen, 
others in drawing-rooms. Some eat 
on banana leaves, others on earthen, 
brass, or stone plates. They bathe 
every day before midday meals. 

There are two principal meals a day, 
at about ten or twelve A. M., and at 
six or eight o'clock at night. Some eat 
their last meal as late as ten or eleven 
P. M. There are others who have 



OKIYAS AND HINDUSTANIS. 51 

a little lunch in the morning at six or 
seven o'clock. 

The Ofiyas. 

The Oriyas are found in Orissa, 
situated on the southwest of Bengal 
along the sea. They number over 
eleven million, more than double the 
population of the whole of Canada. 
Their language is very similar to 
Bengali, both being of the same Sans- 
kritic origin. The people are more 
backward than the Bengalis, and edu- 
cation is not so much spread. 

''The Oriyas are," to quote the 
words of Mr. Beverley, ''even more 
timid than the Bengalis. Conservative 
to a degree, they are wanting in enter- characteris- 
prise, contented to follow the practise 
of their forefathers, and evincing a 
thorough dislike of all modern im- 
provements. The same characteristic 
makes them the most bigoted and 
priest-ridden people in India." 

The Hindustanis, 

Northwest of Bengal, along the 
valley of the Ganges, lies the wide, 
extensive country of the Hindustanis, 



National 



tics. 



Their Coun 
try. 



52 India's millions. 

covering an area of 250,000 square 
miles. These people speak a language, 
which, while having several dialects 
in different parts of the country, 
can be called the French of India. It 
is more or less understood all over the 
country, being a mixed language of 
Arabic, Persian, and Sanskrit. The 
language originated in the camp of the 
Mohammedan emperors, where soldiers 
of these three nations lived together, 
and by their frequent and constant 
intercourse this wonderful language 
was produced. It is spoken to-day by 
a population of over 75,000,000, almost 
equal to the population of the whole 
of the United States with Alaska and 
Hawaii together. 
Manner of liv- Hindustanis are hardier and strong- 
ing and dress, er than the Bengalis, and larger in 
stature and growth. Their principal 
food is wheat and corn, of which they 
prepare a kind of cakes called Chapati. 
They dress more tightly, their cli- 
mate being colder. They are fond of 
the Turban or Head-dress^ a long piece 
of cloth, white or colored, about twenty 
yards long wound around their head. 
They use a kind of shoes manufactured 
in the country. 



THE PUNJABIS. 53 

Their houses are generally built of 
mud or clay, and not having so much 
rain as Bengal, often they do not need 
any roofing except mud; but most of 
the houses in town are roofed with 
baked tiles. 

There are not so many streams or 
watercourses as in Bengal, hence the 
necessity of irrigation for agriculture. 
Deep wells are sunk in the fields and 
worked with Persian wheels to irri- 
gate the fields. Some of the wells are 
as deep as 3Q0 feet. 

Hindustanis are more conservative 
and bigoted than the Bengalis. They 
love to cling to tlieir old manners and 
customs even to-day. They are as a 
whole more rough and haughty, im- 
perious and warlike. 

Tiie Punjabis. 

Still farther up in the northwest, 
reaching as far as the frontier, is the origin of the 
land of the Punjabis. The country "ame. 
derived its name from the Persian 
Punj (^ve) and ab (water), the land 
of the Five Waters; namely, the ^ve 
tributaries of the Indus. The country 
is plain and fruitful, and has an ex- 



54 



INDIANS MILUONS. 



Character. 



treme climate. The people are more 
hardy and strong, and probably the 
largest in stature. Many of them are in 
the British regiments serving as sol- 
diers. They are a great warlike peo- 
ple, and number over 26,000,000. 

There is a peculiar custom prevalent 
among this nation of women dressing 
themselves with a kind of pantaloons 
and flowing shirts, unlike the rest of 
the Indian women. 



Their 
country. 



National cus- 
toms. 



The Mahrattas. 

South of the Punjab and the North- 
western Provinces, west of Bengal 
and Orissa, stretching up to the west- 
ern sea, lies Maharashtra— the country 
of the Mahrattas. The area may be 
estimated at 110,000 square miles, and 
the population over 20,000,000. 

The Mahrattas are a small race of 
people, but hardy and active. They 
always go about with big turbans on 
their heads, each tribe or clan having 
its distinctive mark or color. Their 
women go about more freely than 
those of northern India. 

They are very bigoted and proud, 
hating other nations with great hatred. 



GUJEBATIS AND EAJPUTS. 55 

Mahrattas are very intelligent and 
bright. They were the rnlers of a great 
part of the country at one time. Mah- 
rattas are strict vegetarians. 

Gujeratis^ 

Gnjeratis inhabit the peninsula of 
Gujerat on the west coast of India. 
They are noted for their mercantile 
enterprise. They are much like their 
next-door neighbors, the Mahrattas, 
but not so enlightened. The country is 
well watered by several rivers, and is 
productive ; but they have suffered ter- 
ribly during the last famine. 

There are several agricultural tribes 
in Gujerat. They generally live in 
villages. Their houses are more com- 
fortable and the people are well clad. 
One of these clans called Kunhis has 
the singular custom of celebrating ^^^^^^ ^^_ 
their marriages only on one particular riage. 
day of the year. 

The Rajputs, 

There are several tribes of warlike 
people inhabiting the west central part 
of India, called the Eajputana. These 
tribes are generally denominated as 



56 



INDIANS MILLIONS. 



Country. 



The name. 



Jews of 
India. 



Rajputs. The whole territory is di- 
vided into twenty-one native states, 
governed by the Eajpnt princes. It 
covers an area of 130,000 square miles. 
The population is over 10,000,000. 

The Rajputs are usually very big- 
oted and conservative. They are very 
warlike and full of a ruling spirit. 
Their name signifies ''sons of the 
king ' ' (princes) . They also call them- 
selves ''children of the sun.'' 

"The poorest Rajput of this day," 
says Tod, "retains all the pride of 
ancestry, often his sole inheritance ; he 
scorns to hold the plow, or to use his 
lance but on horseback. In these aris- 
tocratic ideas he is supported by his re- 
ception among his superiors and the 
respect paid to him by his inferiors." 

The money-lenders of India are gen- 
erally a tribe of Rajputs called the 
Marwaris. They are the Jews of 
India. They exact exorbitant usury 
from the poor, and oppress the needy 
to ruin and destruction. 

Having noticed in brief some of the 
principal nations of Indian people, we 
shall now direct our attention to some 
of the baneful customs prevailing in 
the land. 



iSocial Evils. 



"O Father, touch the East with light, 
The light that shone when Hope was born. ' ' 

As a venomous insect hidden inside 
the beautiful rose eats away the pet- 
als and mars the beauty of the flower, 

,.,. T 1 1 Hidden 

SO superstitious and barbarous cus- ^^5^353^ 
toms— nay, corrupt and degraded so- 
cial manners, are eating away the very 
vitals of beautiful India to-day. It is 
with a benevolent hope of curing the 
disease, that we attempt a short de- 
scription of some of these social evils. 
We shall first of all mention the awful 
system of 

Marriage. 



Marriage 



One of the crying evils of India is 
its perverse system of marriage. Mar- 
riage in India is a religious necessity, necessity. 
and that because offspring is also a 
religious necessity; for according to 
some theological teaching a man can 
not get out of the purgatorial peniten- 
tiary after death until Ms children on 
57 



58 INDIANS MILLIONS. 

earth make special sacrifice and obla- 
tions on Ms behalf. Hence an unmar- 
ried or childless man or woman is 
looked down upon with contempt. So 
much so that people do not like to see 
such persons the first thing in the 
morning, fearing lest their whole day 
would be spent in misfortune. 

If any fail to have an issue from 
their first marriage they marry more 
Polygamy. l^^^^i once, their number of wives being 
only limited by their means of sup- 
port. Rich people count their wives 
by pairs, princes by tens, while kings 
and emperors by scores and hundreds. 
In many instances if the former wife 
is impotent, or afflicted with an in- 
curable disease, even after giving birth 
to children, the husband marries the 
second time; but whenever polygamy 
is practised, peace and harmony take 
their flight from that home, leaving 
jealousy and envy, fighting and quar- 
relling to demonstrate the evil of the 
system by bringing a very hell upon 
earth. 

Again, marriage being a sacred ne- 
cessity, parents count it their incum- 
bent duty to marry their children. 



Mabriagb. 



59 



Therefore it is no wonder that they 
should be very anxious to payoff their 
debt by performing this duty as early 
as possible. Hence the custom of early 
or child marriage. Rich people marry 
their children while they are yet far 



Child 
riage. 



mar- 




INDIAN BKIDE AND BRIDEGEOOM. 



below their teens. Sometimes girls of 
three years are married to boys of nine 
or ten : whereas in a good many cases 
marriage takes place even earlier than 
that. For instance, in bengal alone 

THERE ARE 3,901 BABY WIVES UNDER ONE 
YEAR OLD. 



60 



INDIA S MILLlOl^S. 



Unmarried 
girls a dis- 
grace« 



If a father can not succeed in get- 
ting his girl married within eight or 
ten years of age he is considered up 




A NINE-YEAE-OLD WIFE. 



fortunate. He is very anxious to get 
rid of his daughter at or before that 
age, it does not matter how. Some- 
times he has to bribe the bridegroom 
or his parents to marry his daughter, 



MARRIAGE. 61 

and thus save himself from social dis- 
grace and degradation. If he has no 
means he has to borrow or beg, sell 
or mortgage his property ; he must do 
it or lose his social rank. In case of 
failure, he is degraded from society. 
Unmarried daughters are considered 
the greatest burden of Indian parents. 
Sometimes a great sum of money has 
to be paid to procure a good bride- 
groom. They have their prices by 
thousands of rupees (Indian money), 
besides a full supply of ornaments, 
jewels, gold and silver, silk and satin, 
and household furniture often being 
demanded from the father-in-law. If 
the bridegroom is a student all his 
school or college expenses must be met, 
and all responsibility up to certain 
university examinations must be un- 
dertaken. In addition to this, during 
the year there are several festival days 
on which valuable presents must be 
sent to the bridegroom. If the son-in- 
law is not respected, or he is not prop- 
erly paid, daughters have to suffer 
persecution or ill treatment for it. So 
a loving father with natural affection 
is forever under obligation to his son- 
in-law. 



Expenses of 
marriage. 



62 



INDIA S MILLIONS. 



Unequal 
matches. 



Marriage by 
post. 



Again, if they do not or can not pay 
so mncli they have to marry their girls 
to either poor people having nothing 
to support their wives or to old men 
having wives, children, and even 
grandchildren. Since marriage is such 
a necessity, and giving in marriage 
is an incumbent duty, the non-perform- 
ance or omission of which brings in- 
evitable social degradation and dis- 
grace, parents sometimes even con- 
sent to such unequal relationships. 
Girls of eight or ten have often been 
known to be married to men of sixty 
or seventy. 

As boys and girls have very little 
choice in marriage, even when they are 
grown up, the parents or other rela- 
tions attend to the whole business, and 
the bride and bridegroom do not even 
get to see each other until after the 
marriage ceremony is performed. 
Among some nations the ceremony is 
performed while the bride and bride- 
groom are kept in two different houses 
and the marriage covenant is entered 
upon by means of a messenger running 
to and fro. This might almost be 
called a ''marriage by post." The 



MAERIAGE. 63 

parties in India have to take their lot 
by chance alone. Sometimes one gets 
a blind, lame or deformed wife or hus- 
band to their great disappointment 
and surprise. There being no inter- 
marriage between different clans or* 
classes allowed in India, marriage be- 
comes all the more difficult. 

Owing to these and a thousand other 
disadvantages of marriage, girls are 
always considered inauspicious off- 
spring, and are almost universally 
undesirable. Indian mothers consider Female in- 
their daughters ^^ fiery baskets'' on 
their heads ; hence the monstrous cus- 
tom of female infanticide. Though 
this barbarous custom has been abol- 
ished by the British law, yet it is prac- 
tised to some extent in many cases. 
'' Infanticide, properly speaking, is the 
deliberate murder of a child at its 
birth, but there are other forms of 
the practise, which consist in per- 
mitting the child to die, without any di- 
rect act towards that end. The de- 
grees of guilt in these forms vary 
enormously. There may be the fullest 
intention to cause death, or only a 
half conscious hope that the child may 



64 India's millions. 

not live."* Can there be imagined cns- 
toms more barbarous? How one evil 
only paves the way for a hundred 
others to follow in its train! God 
have mercy on dark India ! 

Purdali or Secltision. 

The melancholy custom of confining 
the feminine sex to the inner apart- 
ments of the house, secluded from all 
outward communication is commonly 

Meaning. called zenana or purdah, the latter 
word signifying a curtain; hence it 
properly means, the custom of women 
sitting behind the curtain securely 
screened from the view of the opposite 
sex. This custom originated with the 
Mohammedans, who are very particu- 
larly strict as to its observance, in 
fact this is one of their incumbent du- 
ties of religion. 

According to Mohammedan law no 
part of a w\)man's bod}^ should be ex- 
posed to public view, from the crown 
of her head to the soles of her feet. 
A woman violating this law will have 
fiery robes around her body in hell. 

Origin. Not only are the Mohammedan women 

* Indian Census Bejjort, 1901. CZD 



PUEDAH OR SECLUSION. 65 

lorbidden to show any part of their 
body to those of the opposite sex (with 
a few exceptions), but also to lookupon 
them. Once upon a time Mohanuned 
was sitting in his drawing-room, so 
runs the tradition, with his wives (he 
had about fourteen wives), and there 
came Omar of Medina, a blind man, Mohammed. 
to have an interview with him. No 
sooner was he seen at a distance com- 
ing toward the prophet (?) than Mo- 
hammed asked the ladies to retire to 
the inner apartment. To this injunc- 
tion they objected, saying, ''What 
harm is there if we stay, for he being 
blind would not see usV ''But you 
would see him,'' replied Mohammed, 
"and it is just as unlawful." 

Mohammedans in all parts of the 
world are very particular therefore to 
adhere to the strict injunction of 
their prophet. The following strange 
story is current among Moham- 
medans in India. Once a lady of 
high society was ill and sent for the 
doctor, who wanted to see the patient An odd way of 
when he came. This could by no ^^^^"^ 
means be granted, as she was a lady, 
the doctor a man ; so the doctor had to 



66 



INDIA S MILLIONS. 



be satisfied with having one end oi 
a piece of thread tied to her hand, 
while he, being in the onter court of 
the house, held the other end of it; 
and thus feeling her pulse he pre- 
scribed. Such is the strong prejudice 
of seclusion among them. This system 
is binding even after death, for a dead 
body can not be looked upon by the 
opposite sex. 




SILVEH PALANQUINS OF AN INDIAN PRINCE. 



PUBDAH OR SECLUSION. 67 

When Mohammedan ladies travel on 
the railway they mnst be accommodated 
in separate cars reserved for them. R^Rrc^rs. '" 
They come to the station in a shut-up 
carriage or palanquin, carried by four 
men, and when she has to step out of 
it into the car she is screened 
from all sides to obstruct the public 
view. Not only are the Moham- 
medan ladies subject to this custom, 
but it is equally in vogue among all 
classes in northern India, though not 
so much in the South. 

If a man were to go to an Indian 

home he could sit onlv in the outer ^,. . . . 

Visiting in 

court- with the men, he would have no \„d\a, 
access to the inner court where the 
ladies live. It would be considered 
criminal trespass if one attempted 
such a thing. For a stranger to en- 
ter within the walls of an Indian home 
is as much of an outrage as to enter a 
lady's bedroom, and probably more 
so. 

Women are not allowed to go out 
in the open air, except the poor labor- 
ing classes, whom necessity compels KingEd- 
to break the custom. The other day ^q^^q^^ 
the whole city of Calcutta was beauti- 



68 



INDIA S MILLIONS. 



Ignorance of 
women. 



Their worth- 
lessness. 



fully illuminated on the occasion of 
King Edward's coronation; thousands 
of men were out in the evening, but 
no women were to be seen in the 
streets. All they could see of the pro- 
cession would be by peeping through 
the windows by stealth. 

On account of the above custom the 
wom^en of India are destined to re- 
main ignorant of what is going on in 
the outside world, and consequently 
female education is at a great dis- 
count in India. Girls can not be sent 
to school with boys, nor can they go 
out anywhere for lessons. So if they 
are to learn anything it must be with- 
in the four walls of their own home. 

All this is mainly due to the mis- 
taken idea that prevails in India as 
to the utter worthlessness of women. 
"There are mau}^ Hindu sects in 
India, but upon two points we all 
agree— the sanctity of the cow and 
the depravity of women.' ^— Hindu 
Saying. 

'Q. What is the chief gate to hell? J 

*A. A woman. _ 

*Q. What bewitches like wine? 

'A. A woman. ") 

'Q. Who is the wisest of the wise? 



PUEDAH OB SECLUSION. 69 

•A. He who has not been deceived by women, 
who may be compared to malignant fiends. 

'Q. What are fetters to men? 

'A. Women. 

'Q. What is that which can not be trusted? 

'A. A woman. 

'Q. What poison is that which appears like 
nectar ? 

*A. A woman.' 

'*So runs an Indian catechism on moral sub- 
jects written by a Hindu gentleman of high liter- 
ary reputation. Such are the views that paganism 
has made possible." 

'Women,' says an Indian proverb, 'are a great 
whirlpool of suspicion, a dwelling-place of vices, 
full of deceits, a hindrance in the way to heaven, 
the gate of heU.' 

'Never put your trust in women,' says another. 
•Women's counsel leads to destruction.' 

'Hear now the duties of a woman,' writes the 
Indian lawgiver Manu. 'By a girl, by a young 
woman, or even by an aged one, nothing must be 
done independently, even in her own house. . . . 
Though destitute of virtue, or seeking pleasure 
elsewhere, or devoid of good qualities, yet a hus- 
band must be constantly worshiped by his wife. ' — 
Across India, etc., p. 202. 

Such is the condition of 145, 000, 
000 miserable souls in India, doomed 
to a lifelong imprisonment, leading Their num- 

, . „ , , . . bers and our 

a lite — nay, a mere shadowy exist- responsi- 
ence— within the ghastly tomb of the Wiity. 
four walls of their dismal dungeon, 
mistakenly called their home. They al- 
most double the entire population of 
the United States. They are far more in 



70 India's millions. 

number than all the men and women, 
boys and girls of the whole of North 
and South America taken together. 
Think of their number, and think of 
their miserable lot ; and yet only three- 
fourths of a million of this great host 
know anything about reading and 
writing. Over 144,000,000 of them can 
neither read nor write, and are not 
under any instruction. So the great 
mass of them are hopelessly ig- 
norant—ignorant of everything, tem- 
poral and spiritual. They are altogether 
ignorant of the glorious fact that 
a Sa^dor came into the world for 
them and gave his life to save them 
from sin and depravity, and to raise 
tliem to virtue and sanctity; but in 
their ignorance and gross darkness 
they are heedlessly hurrying to ever- 
lasting and inevitable destruction. 

* ' Must they truly be consigned 
To the pit and there confined, 
Since the blessed Savior shed his 
blood for aU?'' 



WIDOWHOOD. 71 

"WidoMrliood. 

Q. What is crueH 
A. The heart of a viper. 
Q. What is more cruel than that? 
A. The heart of a woman. 
Q. What is cruellest of aU? 
A. The heart of a sonless, pen- 
niless widow.— Hindu Saying. 

Since marriage takes place so 
very early in India, there are wid- 
ows of all ages. In Bengal alone 
there are 538 widows who are under 
one year old. Think of these babies ! ^. 
before they have completed a year of widows. 
their existence they have been already 
married and have lost their husbands. 
There are 77,000 widows under ten 
years of age and 25,000,000 of all 
ages. Huge figures moving among 
thousands and millions! 

Can you imagine that these 25, 000, 
000, bereft as they are of all joys of 
life and pleasures of love in conjugal ^, 

^ "^^ No remar- 

relation at the prime of their lives, riage. 
are never more to marry again? 
Hundreds of thousands of them even 
do not know what marriage is in fact. 
This is not all. 
"Widowhood in India is not only a 



ows 



72 INDIANS MILLIONS. 

lifelong sorrow, but a lifelong curse. 
Suffering of It is believed to be the e:ffect of some 
!."^!^" ^'^" borrible crime committed by the wom- 
an in a previous life (for they believe 
in transmigration of souls) ~ a crime 
for which her husband has been pun- 
ished. He has died, but she must suf- 
fer. Of course ! it is her fault. ' ' 

^'The widow in India must wear a 
single coarse garment, white, red or 
brown. She must eat only one meal 
during the 24 hours of a day. She 
must never take part in family feasts 
with others. She must not show her- 
self on auspicious occasions. People 
think it unlucky to behold a widow's 
face before seeing any other object in 
the morning. A man will postpone his 
journey if his path happens to be 
crossed by a widow at the time of his 
departure. The relatives and neigh- 
bors of the young widow's husband 
are always ready to call her bad 
names, and to address in abusive lan- 
guage at every opportunity. There is 
scarcely a day of her life on which she 
is not cursed by these people as the 
cause of their beloved friend's death." 
A widow is not allowed to keep 



WIDOWHOOD. 73 

long hair, of which an Indian woman 
is so remarkably fond. She thinks it 
worse than death to lose her hair, and 
yet she must do it. Again, as soon as 
a woman loses her husband, her much 
loved jewels are all taken away ; she is 
not allowed to put them on in her whole 
life. She is a curse to the family, and 
a burden to society, wishing death 
every day of her miserable and doleful 
existence. 

The following extract written by an 
Indian widow gives a glimpse of their 
sad condition: 

"O Lord, hear my prayer! No one has turned 

an eye on the oppression that we poor women suf- . ^, ^. 
,.•;,, .,T ^ • ^ /I • Apathetic 

±er, though with weeping and crying and desire 

we have turned to all sides, hoping that some one 
would save us. No one has lifted up his eyelids 
to look upon us, nor enquire into our case. We 
have searched above and below, but thou art the 
only one who will hear our complaint; thou know- 
est our impotence, our degradation, our dishonor. 

* ' O great Lord I our name is written with drunk- 
ards, with lunatics, with imbeciles, with the very 
animals; as they are not responsible, we are not. 
Criminals confined in the jails for life are happier 
than we, for they know something of the world. 
They were not born in prison, but we have not one 
day— no, not even in our dreams— seen thy world. 
To us it is nothing but a name; and not having 
seen the world, we can not know thee, its Maker. 
Those who have seen thy works may learn to un- 
derstand thee; but as for us, we are shut in, it is 



prayer. 



74 

not possible to know thee. We see only the four 
walls of the house. Shall we call them the world, 
or India? We have been born in this jail, we have 
died here, and are dying.'' 

**Tlie Indian woman as bride goes 
inside her hnsband 's house, and never 
Living tombs. ^^ scarcely ever goes out again till she 
is carried out to be buried at her 
death. For the rest of her life she is 
hidden there in a living tomb. And if 
she be a widow that tomb becomes a 
prison-house of pain, from which un- 
numbered cries, such as that we have 
just read, go up to Grod.'' 

Who will go and announce the ac- 
ceptable year of the Lord? Who will 
proclaim the glorious liberty to them 
They are that are bruised? Who will go to tell 
them of the Woman's Friend who 
came to set them free I Luke 4 : 18, 
19. ^ ' He sat once by the wayside, not 
thinking about millions, but about one. 
He was very tired, but not too tired to 
care about her sorrows, her shame; to 
talk to her, to bring her home to God. 
And we, amid life's many claims who 
say we follow him, have we cared for 
one of these in India, as Jesus cared 
that day!"* 

* Across India, by Miss Lucy E. Guiness. 



waiting. 



CASTE. 75 

They are anxious to hear of this 
'wonderful Savior; They have been 
j waiting for ages, and are wistfully ®^ ^"^ 
I looking for you to go over to tell them 
the story of the cross that has raised 
you so high in the world. How long 
shall they wait? Oh, how long? 

Caste. 

The caste system is one of the crying 
evils in India. The entire community 
is divided into several sects or divi- 

, . , . . TT J. i T r? The four main 

sions which originally started irom wastes. 
some professional distinction or nat- 
ural predilection. Originally there 
were four main castes or divisions: 
the Priests (Brahmins), the Warriors 
(Khshatrias), the Merchants (Bai- 
^hyas) and the Slaves (Sudras), each 
keeping his own caste pure from inter- 
mingling with another. According to 
the inevitable law of division minor 
sects and subsects have arisen in 
course of time, and are being multi- 
plied every day. 

The manners and customs of differ- 
ent castes vary considerably. The one 
hates the other as bitterly as a Jew 



ration. 



76 

would hate a Samaritan or a Gen- 
tile. They seldom eat one an- 
strict sepa- Qther's food. Even the water touched 
by one caste would be unfit for use by 
another caste. If one of an inferior 
caste happened into the house of one 
of a superior caste all the eatables in 
the house, all cooked things, and all 
water would be polluted, and must be 
thrown away. The least possible con- 
tact with a low caste man would ne- 
cessitate ceremonial cleansing or im- 
mersion. Sometimes even the tread- 
ing on shadows made by a low caste 
man is enough to contaminate a person 
with a ceremonial impurity. 

While customs like this remain in 
force one need hardly be told that in- 
termarriage is impossible among 
castes. Hence marriage becomes hard 
to accomplish, and often unsatisfac- 
tory. So strict are they in observing 
this groundless nonsense, for which 
they claim divine origin and sanction, 
that a man would sooner die of starva- 
tion during the famine than eat food 
cooked by one of a lower caste. 

It has entered so deep into the sys- 
tems of the Indian life, and taken such 



CASTE. 77 

strong root in the Indian heart, that 
even among the so-called Christians Caste among 
of some parts there is a custom of 
having separate cups in communion 
service for different castes. What non- 
sense ! What folly ! 

It is because of this ruinous system 
that India is chafing under the foreign 
yoke for generations, and being left 
far behind the train of progress and Cause of so- 
civilization for ages. It is this baneful ^'^' <*®9»*««*a" 

. ticn. 

custom that fills the Indian brain with 
pride and haughtiness, so that a boy 
of the Priest class, though he be 
void of all qualifications for the sacred 
office, and could do better in some 
other trade, would rather beg than 
condescend to do something outside of 
his profession, as he would consider 
it vile and mean. Europeans often, 
though innocently, offend Indians by 
asking them to do things which they 
consider beneath their dignity to do. 
This is natural pride; this is vain 
glory of life. (1 John 2:14.) Who 
but Christ can break the fetters of age- 
honored customs! 



78 India's millions. 





L 




nomadic tribe of bengal. 



R^eli^ion. 

"Of a man or of a nation we inquire first of all: 
What religion had they? Answering this question 
is the giving us the soul of the history of the man 
or the nation. The thoughts they had were the 
parents of the actions they did; their feelings 
were the parents of their thoughts; it was the un- 
seen and the spiritual in them that determined the 
outward and the actual; their religion, as I say, 
was the great fact of them."— Carlyle. 

As the national history and life of a principal reii- 
people are indispensably related, and g«ons of India. 

inseparably connected with their re- 
ligion, and as these two are always 
wonderfully interwoven with each 
other, we can not afford to be indiffer- 
ent or to remain ignorant about the 
different religions of India, if we want 
to know anything about that ''conti- 
nent of nations." "We shall therefore 
turn now to the different systems of 
religion that exist in India to-day. 
Their number being so many, notice 
will only betaken of the principal ones 
in succession. The following are the 
principal religions of India: Hindu- 
ism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Mo- 
hammedanism and Zoroastrianism. 

79 



Definition. 



80 India's millions. 



Hizidtiisxn. 

Hinduism includes such- a variety of 
creeds and doctrines that it has often 
been called an ^^encyclopedia of re- 
ligions. ' ' 

' ' Hinduism is not, ' ' says one of her 
own sons, '^and never has been a re- 
ligious organization. It is a pure 
social system, insisting on those who 
are Hindus the observance of certain 
social forms, and not the profession 
of particular religious beliefs. ... It is 
perfectly optional with a Hindu to 
choose from any of the different re^ 
ligious creeds with which the Shas- 
tras abound ; he may choose to have a 
faith and creed is he wants a creed, or 
to do without one. He may be an 
atheist, a deist, a monotheist, or a poly- 
theist, a believer in the Vedas or Shas- 
tras, or a skeptic as regards their au- 
thority, and his position as a Hindu 
can not be questioned by anybody be- 
cause of his beliefs or unbeliefs, so 
long as he conforms to social rules. 
This has been the case with Hinduism 
in all ages, and has not been brought 



THE SACRED BOOKS. 81 

about by the so-called transition state 
we are now supposed to live in." 

It is from sucb a conglomeration of 
ideas and creeds, and from sncli a 
hodgepodge of orthodoxies and heter- 
odoxieSy faith, and unbelief, that we 
are to get our notion of what Hindu- 
ism really is. So we shall, first of all, 
notice the Sacred Books of the Hindus 
—the authprity and guide of the whole 
system. 

The Sacred Books* 

The Vedas are the most ancient and 
time-honored books of India. They 
arc considered to be the very words of 
their god, and are supposed to be in- The Vedas. 
fallible in their teachings. They are 
four in number: Rig-Veda, Yajur- 
Veda, Sama-Veda, Atharva-Veda. 

' ' The general form of the Vedas, ' ' says Dr. 
Whitney, *'is that of lyric poetry. They contain 
the songs in which the first ancestors of the Hin- 
du people, at the very dawn of their existence as 
a separate nation, while they were still only on 
the threshold of the great country which they were 
afterward to fill with their civilization, praised 
the gods, extolled heroic deeds, and sang of other 
matters which kindled their poetic fervor. '^ 

The Big-Veda is the Veda of praise. It is full 
of hymns addressed to the various gods of the 
ancient Hindus. There is nothing divine about it 
of course. 
6 



82 



INDIA S MILLIONS. 



Philosophical 
works. 



Traditions. 



Eipc poems 
and law- 
book.' 



Yajur-Veda is the Veda of sacrifice. It contains 
directions to the priests about sacrifice. 

Sama-Veda contains sacrificial hymns. 

Atharva-Veda teaches how to appease the gods 
and secure their favor, to destroy human and 
ghostly enemies. It is the Veda of prayer, charms 
and spells. 

The Darsanas or pMlosopMcal 
books are six in number, teaching dif- 
ferent aspects of the Hindu philo- 
sophical systems. 

The Puranas or traditions of the 
Hindus, are eighteen in number, con- 
taining all legendary and superstitious 
and fabulous stories of their gods and 
goddesses. Most of them are as ludi- 
crous and ridiculous as Aesop 's fables 
or fairy tales, with regard to their au- 
thenticity or historical value. 

To these may be added the cele- 
brated Epic Poems of Ramayana and 
Mahahharata and the Code of Manu, 
which last is the mpst important moral 
code or law-book of the Hindu system. 

Relig:io«s Rites, 

Having noticed in brief the Sacred 
Books of the Hindus we shall pro- 
ceed to describe a few of their relig- 
ious rites and ceremonies. 



RELIGIOUS BITES. 83 

DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD. 

The Hindus seldom bury their dead. 
The general custom is to cremate their 
dead bodies, and that as soon after 
death as possible. If a person dies at 
night they must take the body out of 
the house for cremation before day- 
light. Certain curses they believe 
would overtake the house if this is 
neglected. Again, when they perceive 

that death is inevitable and sure they Exposure be- 
fore death. 

take the dying person out of the bed 

and make him lie down on a mat in the 
open courtyard, and there allow him to 
die. If a person dies in his room the 
house is detiled and polluted. Some- 
times if possible the dying person is 
carried to the river Ganges, and left to 
die there on its bank with his feet in 
the water and his head on the shore. 
Persons thus expiring acquire much 
merit and secure right to heaven. Of- 
ten the dying person in extreme agony 
and pain, exposed to the inclement 
weather, lingers in the open air or on 
the riverside for several hours. Some 
die solely because of such barbarous 
rites, who would otherwise probably 



Cremation. 



84 India's millions. 

have recovered all right. Some such 
cases have heen rescued, and the sup- 
posed dying persons have recovered 
and lived for years afterwards. All 
this is done in the name of religion. 

The dead body is carried by two or 
four men on a bamboo or wooden bed, 
clad with new white clothes, to the 
river or pool. They can not cremate 
the dead anywhere they like, it must 
be near some water. After the crema- 
tion is over they throw the ashes of 
the dead body into the water. 

There is another cruel custom in 
connection with cremation. The near- 
est relative of the dead must first put 
fire into his mouth, and to his face, and 
then the others will do the rest. The 
son therefore is required to start the 
fire on the dead body of his father or 
mother. It is indeed an inhuman cus- 
tom, to say the least. 

SKADDHA. 

After the death of one's father or 
mother, or other near relative, a man 
must subject himself to a system of 
hardship and penance in honor to the 
departed as an expression of his sor- 



EELIGIOUS EiTES. 85 

row and grief for the dead. He is to 
go about barefooted, has to put on a Penance for 
coarse or plain cloth like the widows, ^ ®^ * 
and is not allowed to sit upon any 
cushioned seat or wooden chair. He 
must not comb his hair, he must not 
eat twice during the day, he must not 
use any salt with his food, he must not 
have any palatable dishes or fish or 
meat or any condiments. He shall 
have to cook his own food and must 
not eat food cooked by another, who- 
ever it may be. He is allowed to cook 
only once, and that in one pot, and the 
foods must be all cooked together. If 
it is burnt, or otherwise becomes un- 
fit for use, he must go without a meal 
that day. He must use a new vessel 
to cook in every time he cooks. He 
must give the first morsel of his food 
to a crow or raven, and wait until it 
is eaten, and then he may eat. These 
he must do for a period of thirty or 
forty days, according to the caste to 
which he belongs. 

After the days of penance are over 
he is to perform what is called srad- 
dha. It consists in making a great 
feast for the Brahmins or priests, who 



86 



INDIA S MILLIONS. 



Praying for 
the dead. 



Offering to 
the priests. 



come to Ms house, read from the sa- 
cred book in Sanskrit and offer some 
gifts to the god. The host must feed 
them sumptuously, give them valuable 
gifts of wearing apparel, household 
furniture, and useful utensils, besides 
gold and silver. Sometimes thousands 
of dollars are spent for these things, 
by which they believe the departed 
soul is relieved of its sufferings in the 
next world. Therefore every dutiful 
son must perform such foolish relig- 
ious rites. If he does not do it he is 
looked down upon, and often excom- 
municated from society. If he has no 
money to spend in feeding the priests, 
he must borrow or beg, and thus go to 
ruin forever, never to rise again— not 
being able to pay off his debts. He 
often leaves it as a burden to encum- 
ber his descendants. It often involves 
the ruination of a prominent and pros- 
perous family forever, but there is no 
help. Oh, the depth of satanic bond- 
age! 

It is perhaps not out of place to 
mention right here that the cow, being 
a sacred animal, even regarded as the 
very incarnation of the goddess her- 



KELIGIOUS BITES. 



87 



Belf,— if one of them dies an nnnat- Penance for 
liral death, the owner must undergo t*^®^®^^ 
the same ceremony for it as he would 
in case of his father 's death. 

P/^i)7.— Generally a relic is pre- 
served from the fire at the cremation 
of a dead body. Often a piece of bone 
is kept, and this is taken to Benares, 




BElsTAKES— PKIESTS SITTING ON THE EIVER- 
BANK TO OFFICIATE FOR THE PILGRIMS. 



one of the sacred cities of India, and 
a famous place for pilgrimages in the 
Northwest Provinces. Another srad- 
dha ceremony is there performed in 
the same way, spending money and 



88 



INDIA S MILLIONS. 



Ceremonial 
offering to 
the dead. 



Sacrifices. 



Multiplica- 
tion of dei- 
ties. 



gifts. This is called offering pindi 
to the departed, and it satisfies the 
hunger and thirst of the deceased. 
This is simply another money-making 
scheme invented and imposed upon the 
natural affection of men by the ava- 
ricious priests. 

SACRIFICES,— T\ie custom of sac- 
rifices is as old as humanity. It is to 
be found everywhere, in every nation 
in some form or another, and it is to 
be found in India also. Animal sacri- 
fice is very extensive in use, but hu- 
man sacrifice is also enjoined in the 
Hindu books, though it can not be per- 
formed on account of human obstacles 
(government and law) in civilized ter- 
ritories. 

Often people make vows to the gods 
for different kinds of sacrifices in case 
of their success in their enterprise and 
deliverance from danger, offering sac- 
rifices in various temples. 

Gods of the Hindus. 

Wherever there has been a deifica- 
tion of created objects in preference to 
the Creator, an enormous multiplicity 
of gods and goddesses has been an 



aODS OF THE HIKDUS. 



89 




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HANUMAN — A HINDU GOD. 



90 



inevitable result, and a necessary se- 
quence. It appears very plain that 
when men begin tO' worship created ob- 
jects, physical forces, and natural phe- 
nomena in various forms or orders, 
it does not give any real satisfaction, 
nor are their inward cravings after 
the unknown God satiated thereby. 
Hence of necessity there is a growing 
increase of the number of gods, 
swelling from time to time with new 
additions. 

As this is a universal law and an 
axiomatic truth, it is also true in In- 
dia. The early ancestors of the Hindus 
. J , ^.. began their idolatry by worshiping 
an Gods. the natural phenomena and physical 
and material forces; such as, sky, 
dawn, wind, rain, etc. Soon new gods 
were invented and canonized, and 
their number steadily increased until it 
reached to 330,000,000 -until almost 
everything they could think of, either 
in heaven above or earth beneath, eve- 
ry object, whether animate or inan- 
imate was deified and made a god 
or goddess. It is impossible to men- 
tion them by name; all that is pos- 
sible is to speak of a few of the prin- 



GODS OF THE HINDUS. 91 

cipal gods and goddesses of India, in 
order to give a brief idea of their 
character and work. 

DYAUS-PITAK— HEAVEN FATHEE. 

In the very^ early period of the his- 
tory of Aryan nations, even before Sky-god. 
their separation from one another, 
they all used to worship the beauti- 
ful sky under the name of Dyaus-Piter 
(Heaven or Sky-Father). The prim- 
itive Hindus seem to have been wor- 
shipers of natural phenomena and 
physical forces. 

PEITHIVI — EAKTH. 

Later on they joined Prithivi or 
Earth with Sky or Heaven-God and ^^''**'- 
married them together. 

VARUNA. 

The next conception of God to be 
found in the ancient Hindu books is 
Varuna. He is also a representation 
of Heaven and is the same as the Ocean god. 
Greek Ouranos (Heaven). In later 
ages Varuna became simply the name 
of the god of the ocean. 

INDRA— GOD OF RAIN. 

Indra was afterwards added to the 
number of the gods. He is the god 



92 INDIANS MILLIONS. 

of rain, and was mucli worshiped by 
Rain-god. tliG Aryan farmers. In later ages he 
became the king of the gods. He rides 
on his famous elephant, and wields his 
thunderbolt as his weapon in battle. 
His whole body is full of eyes. A fil- 
thy story is told to account for their 
origin: He was drawn away by lust 
to commit lewdness with the wife of 

His vile sin i r> t j i • 

andtheawfuf l^s owQ teacher, who, finding out ins 

result. guilt cursed him so that his whole 

body became full of shameful scars. 

At his repentance and entreaty the 

teacher changed them into eyes. 

AGNI — PIKE. 

Agni is the god of fire. He is 
praised and adored in the Vedas very 
Fire-god. prominently. This being one of the 
most useful natural elements, the Hin- 
dus worshiped it from a very early 
date. 

VAYU — WIND. 

He is often mentioned in the Vedas 
together with the god of rain (Indra) 
riding on the same chariot. The 
wind and the rain being associated to- 
gether there is no wonder that the 
Hindus would deify and worship them 
together. 



Wind. 



storm. 



GODS OP THE HINDUS. 93 

MARUTS — STORM GODS. 

To worship and adore the higher 
power is inherent in hnman nature, so 
when the Hindus found the terrible 
effect of storms they began to entreat 
them as gods to save their houses and 
property. 

SURYA— THE SUN. . 

This the Hindus began to worship 
as the origin of all heat and light 
from a very early date, and the wor- 
ship of the sun is practised even to- 
day. In the morning when the Hin- ^^^^ 
dus bathe in the sacred river Ganges, 
or anywhere else, they can be seen af- 
ter their ablution to be addressing 
their prayer to the sun. 

USHA— THE DAWN. 

Seeing the beautiful dawn in the 
morning before sunrise the Hindus ^^^^ 
were struck and began to adore it as 
a beautiful goddess. 

VISHNU — GOD OF PRESERVATION. 

He is the second person of the Hin- Second per- 
du triad, into whose hands is com- so"®**^® 

. triad. 

mitted the preservation of the uni- 
verse. He is the husband of the god- 
dess of wealth, Laksmi. Vishnu is 



94 



INDIA S MILLIONS. 



His wife. 



Architect 
god. 



Creator. 



Goddess of 
speech. 



Liquor 
deified. 



worshiped in every house in the form 
of a piece of stone painted purple 
with vermilion. 

LACKSMI— GODDESS OF WEALTH. 

She is the wife of Vishnu, and 
daughter of the third peison of the 
Hindu triad, Siva, the god of destruc- 
tion. 

VISHVAKAEMA— ALL CKEATING. 

This name was given to the archi- 
tect god. Whenever anything is to be 
constructed in heaven he is to be 
summoned. 

PKA JAP ATI — THE CEEATOR. 

Pie is considered the god who is the 
first cause of this universe, from 
whom the whole thing sprang ; but the 
name is also used as an epithet of the 
Sim. 

VACH — SPEECH. 

She is considered the goddess of 
speech personified, who was the first 
means of imparting divine knowledge 
to men. 

SOMA— A SPIRITUOUS DRINK. 

''The simple-minded Aryan peo- 
ple," says Prof. "Whitney, "whose 



GODS OF THE HINDUS. 95 

whole religion was a worship of the 
wonderful powers and phenomena of 
nature, had no sooner perceived that 
this liquid (Soma) had the power to 
elevate the spirits, and produce a 
temporary frenzy, under the influence 
of which the individual was prompted 
to, and capable of, deeds beyond his 
natural power, than they found in it 
something divine: it was to their ap- 
prehension a god, endowing those in- 
to whom it entered with godlike pow- 
ers; the plant which afforded it, be- 
came to them the king of plants; the 
process of preparing it was a holy 
sacrifice; the instruments used there- 
for were sacred.'' 

The Soma is the juice of a creep- 
ing plant, and is intoxicating when 
fermented. The Hindus used to 
drink it themselves, and to offer it as 
libations to their gods. 

YAM A— DEATH. 

Yama is supposed to be the lord of 
the departed spirits, and also the 
cause of all mortality. He is believed 
to be the judge of the dead and the 
punisher of the wicked. 



Death. 



96 



INDIA S MILLIONS. 



First person 
of the triad. 



His charac- 
ter. 



Goddess of 
wisdom. 



BKAHMA. 

The first person of the Hindu triad. 
He is the father of all. According to 
tradition he first created water and de- 
posited in it a seed, which became a 
golden egg, from which he himself 
was born. Brahma has fonr heads, 
whose origin is explained in the fol- 
lowing way: ''Beholding his daughter 
Satarupa, he lusted after her. As 
she tried to escape, four heads were 
made to look at her. When she 
sprang into the sky a fifth head was 
immediately formed. Siva (the third 
person of the triad) is said to have 
cut off the fifth head with the nail of 
his left hand." 

''He is said to have told a lie and 
to have hired the cow Kamdhenu to 
bear false witness for him." 

Brahma rides on a swan and lives in 
a heaven 800 miles long. 

SAEASVATI — GODDESS or WISDOM. 

Yach or Speech is the same as this 
goddess, and she is the wife of Brah- 
ma. She is said to be the inven- 
tress of the Sanskrit language, the sa- 
cred tongue of the Hindus. She al- 



GODS OF THE HINDUS. 



97 



ways sits on a lotus. Sarasvati is 
worshiped by all the students in In- 
dia during the winter season with 
great pomp. 

TULSI— A SMALL PLANT. 

Tulsi plant is considered the incar- FamUygod. 



1,1 .■ .... ' 






K. • ^f 



Mtavmk^ t mm t' 






t 

I 



-f^-,:- 



*■ ■^■,ii:>i:5^ 






A HINDU WOMAN WOKSHIPING THE 
TULSI PLANT. 



nation of the Hindu goddess and is 
worshiped in every home by the wom- 
en, who bow down to it and say 
their prayers. 

7 



98 



INDIA'S MILLIONS. 



The Moon's 
wives. 



Planet gods. 



A musician 
given to dis- 
cord. 



A popular 
and blood- 
thirsty god- 
dess. 



MOON. 

The Moon is one of the gods, who 
has twenty-seven wives, which are 
the ditTerent constellations in the 
sky. 

THE PLANETS. 

Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Sat- 
urn, Neptune are all gods. 

NAEADA. 

The heavenly musician Narada is 
one of the gods of heaven. His chief 
occupation seems to be creating feuds 
and quarrels among men and gods. 

"KALI. 

Kali, the wife of Siva, is one of the 
most popular goddesses in Bengal. 
It is impossible to conceive anything 
more hideous and abominable than the 
image of this goddess. Kalighat, the 
southern suburb of Calcutta, is noted 
for the famous shrine dedicated to this 
goddess. Pilgrims come from all 
quarters to visit this temple, to sacri- 
fice to the goddess, and to bathe in the 
river flowing past the temple, with 
a hope of washing away their sins. In 
earlier days human sacrifice was made 
to her. Even as late as 1866, during 



GODS OF THE HINDUS. 99 




GODDESS KALI. 



the great famine, human heads with 
flowers were found in her temple. The 
secret worship of this furious goddess 
is too repulsive for description. 

The following is quoted from one 
of the Tantras describing this goddess. 



LofC. 



100 

"One should adore with liquor and oblations 
that Kali, who has a terrible gaping mouth and 
uncombed hair; who has four hands, and a gar- 
land formed of the heads of the demons she has 
slain, and whose blood she has drunk; who holds 
a sword in her lotus-like hand; who is fearless 
and rewards blessings; who wears two ear-rings 
(consisting of two dead bodies) ; who carries two 
dead bodies in her hands; who has terrible teeth, 
and a smiling face; whose face is awful; who 
dwells in burning-grounds; who stands on the 
breast of her husband Alahadeva.* 

She is one of the most blood-thirsty 
deities of the Hindus. It is said that 
the blood of a tiger satisfies her for 
100 3^ears, and that of a man for 1000 
years. She is often worshiped at the 
time of plagues and epidemics. 

DUEGA. 

Durga Piija, or the worship of the 
wife of goddess Durga, is the chief festival in 

Siva. Bengal. The festival comes during 

fall, when all the schools and colleges, 
courts and offices are closed for the 
occasion. The worship lasts for ten 
days. Friends and relatives are in- 
vited and entertained; new clothing 
and valuable presents are generally 
exchanged. After the worship the 
idol is thrown away into some river or 
lake. This goddess is another repre- 



Ten-armed 



* Mabadeva— gre^t god- Another qame for Siva, 



GODS OF THE HINDUS. 101 




THE GODDESS DUKGA. 

SAKSHI SAEASVATI 

GANESH KARTICK 



sentation of Kali and has ten arms. 
^She rides on a lion, treading upon a 
monstpr. She is the wife of Siva. 



102 



INDIA S MILLIONS. 



KARTICK. 



The Hindu 
"Horse- 
shoe." 



Kartick is the son of Durga, and 
Deified pride, is worshiped as the god of beauty. 
He rides upon a peacock, the emblem 
of pride. 

GANESH. 

Ganesh, brother of Kartick, is wor- 
shiped as a g'od of good luck. In eve- 
ry house his picture is kept on the 
door-post as a sign of good luck. His 
name is a charm that ensures success 
in every enterprise. His form is 
quite the opposite of his brother Kar- 
tick. He has an elephant head and 
trunk on a human body, which pre- 
sent a most hideous appearance. 

The following story is often told to account for 
his strange appearance. Soon after his birth, his 
uncle Saturn, the god of misfortune, came to see 
him. No sooner had he cast his eye upon the child 
than its head was separated from the body on ac- 
count of his evil influence. But at the entreaty of 
the mother Saturn consented to bring the child to 
life again. * * Go round the house, ' ' he said, * ' and 
whomsoever you meet first, cut off his head and 
put it on the child, and it shall live." To their 
surprise they found an elephant behind the house, 
and cut off his head and put it on the child. The 
child lived, but has retained the trunk of the elephant 
ever since. His ugly look was counteracted by 
making him the god of prosperity and good luck. 



GODS OF THE HINDUS. 103 







GAISTESH. 



104 

JAGANNATH. 

He is another representation of 
Krishna. Orissa is especially noted 
for the worship of this god. Puri, a 
city in Orissa, contains the famous 
temple of Jagannath, where thousands 




JAGANNATH. 

of pilgrims resort every year, during 
the festival. 

There is a wooden car, made in the 
shape of a temple, in which the god 
is placed, and the car is drawn with 
two pieces of strong rope by hun- 
dreds of men. Formerly pilgrims de- 
siring to get rid of their sinful 



GODS OF THE HINDUS. 105 

existence on earth, would throw them- 
selves under the wheels of this car 
when in motion, and would kill 
themselves on the spot, hoping to gain 
heaven by the act. This barbarous 
custom, however, has been abolished 
by the British government. 

The idol is a shapeless one, con- 
sisting only of a piece of log, having 
no hands or feet. Dr. Ragendra Lall 
Mitra, a learned Hindu antiquarian, de- 
scribes the image as '^the most hideous 
caricature of the human face divine/' 

The following legend explains the 
origin of the idol, and accounts for 
its hideous appearance. 

"When Krishna was shot, his bones were left 
lying under the tree till some pious person placed 
them in a box.* Indradhumma, a king, was direc- 
ted to form an image, and place in it these bones. 

. The king prayed to Visvakarma to assist him in 
making the image. The architect of the gods 
promised to do so on condition that he was not 
disturbed. Though the king consented, after fif- 
teen days he tried to see Visvakarma at work, but 

■ there was only an ugly image, without hands or 
feet." The image could not be finished because 
the king broke the promise, and Visvakarma left 
the job, being disturbed. 



* According to tradition Krishna died on a tree, being 
shot througli his feet with a fowler's arrow. The whole of 
the Krishna myth is a caricature of the story of Christ 
and his cross, to deceive the people and prejudice them 
gainst the gospel. 



106 India's millions. 

Avatats of the Hindu Gods* 

^ ... Vvhf never a great disorder, physical 

Ten Hindu i ^ i i • 

incarnations, or moral, arose in the world, God him- 
self would come into this world in an 
assumed form of some wonderful ani- 
mal or superhuman being, or be born 
of human parents in a human form. 
These are called the Avatars of the 
gods. 

There are several such Avatars, of 
which the following are the chief: 

1. THE FISH. 

During the deluge God became a 
huge fish to guide and direct Manu's 
ship tO' a high mountain till the flood 
was overpast. 

2. THE TOETOISE. 

God became a tortoise and dived 
into the sea to recover certain things 
which were lost during the flood. 

3. THE BOAK. 

^ ' A demon named Hiranyaksha had 
dragged the earth to the bottom of 
the sea. To recover it, Vishnu assumed 
the form of a boar, and after a. con- 
test of a thousand years he slew the 
demon and raised the eartii.'' 



AVATAES OF THE HINDU GODS. 107 
L THE MAN-LION. 

God assumed the form of half man 
and half lion to destroy a demon 
Hiranyakasipn, who received a boon 
from the gods that he could not be 
killed either by gods, men or wild ani- 
mals. Hence he became a peculiar be- 
ing, neither god, man, nor animal, and 
killed the demon. 

). THE DWARF. 

King Bali by his devotions and be 
nevolence acquired the dominion of 
the three worlds, the earth, the heaven, 
and the Hades. Consequently tlie 
gods lost all their power and dignit}^. 
To check him and to restore power and 
honor to the gods, Vishnu became a 
dwarf -man and went to the king as a 
poor Brahmin to beg a small portion of 
land, even as much as he could step 
over in three paces. This small re- 
quest the king readily granted, and 
the dwarf -god at once extended him- 
self, and in two strides recovered the 
whole heaven and earth, and out j^ 
compassion he threw the king down to 
Hades. 
). PAEAsu-EAMA (Eama with axe). 

Parasu-Rama is said to have killed 



108 INDIANS MILLIONS. 

all the warriors of the world twenty- 
one times, to avenge the death of his 
father. So great was the massacre that 
five large lakes were filled with tho 
blood of the slain warriors. 

7. EAMA CHANDEA. 

Eama Chandra was the son of King 
Dasaratha of Oudh. He was banished 
at the instigation of his stepmother 
the day he was to be crowned king. 
In his wandering he is said to have 
come to - South India, where he with 
his wife and brother lived in the forest. 
It was there that his wife, the beanti- 
fnl Sita (Helen of India) was stolen 
by the ten-headed monster, king of 
Ceylon. Rama waged war, killed the 
monster and reclaimed his wife. 

8. KRISHNA THE BLACK. 

Vishnu became incarnated as Krish- 

Characterof na to kill the tyrant king Kansa, the 

r*s na. representative of the principle of evil. 

According to the popular idea '^he 
is represented as mischievous and 
disobedient as a child, guilty of theft 
and lying, stealing the clothes of 
neighboring ladies, and sporting with 
them, as having eight queens and 
16,000 wives, who burnt up Kasi, de- 



AVATAKS OF THE HINDU GODS. 109 




KRISHNA AND HIS WIFE. 



110 India's millions. 

stroying its iniiabitaiits, and fimslied 
his course by slaying a great number 
of Ms 180,000 sons." 

He is no doubt a most disgraceful 
character among gods. His favorite 
concubine was one of his aunts. To 
account for such vile and gross miscon- 
duct a skilful legend was invented : His 
uncle in his previous birth was a poor 
Brahmin, who prayed to Vishnu for 
wealth, which is exactly the same word 
as the name of his wife ''Laksmi" ; so 
when Vishnu granted the prayer he ac- 
tually granted his wife. Strange god, 
and strange request! Accordingly in 
the next age his wife became the wife 
of this Brahmin. As Vishnu could not 
remain without his wife, he also came 
upon earth incarnated as Krishna, and 
nephew to the Brahmin. His wife in 
order to keep true to her first love of- 
ten used to come out of home and live 
with Krishna in the groves. Oh, the 
depth of the degradation and infamy 
to which they descended! 

BUDDHA. 

This is not really a Hindu incar- 
nation, but the Hindus being worship- 
ers of whatever is great gave him also 



AVATARS OF THE HINDU GODS. Ill 

a place in their vast pantheon. Notice 
will be taken of him later on. 

KAI.KI. 

This is 3^et to come. He will come 
at the close of this age for final de- 
struction of the wicked, the redemp- 
tion of the good and the restoration 
of perfect order. 

The above are the principal incar- 
nations of Vishnu, but according to 
some authorities they run up to some 
twenty-two in number. ''The incar- 
nations of Vishnu," they say, "are 
innumerable, like the rivulets flowing 
from an inexhaustible lake. Rishis 
(Hindu sages), Manus, sons of Manus 
(Hindu patriarchs), Projapatis are 
all portions of him. ' ' 

In fact, according to another creed, 
nothing exists in heaven or earth save 
himself, everything is his part, and Everything 
in everything he is to be found, is God. 
Hence everything is God. Man is God, 
beast is God, bird is God, tree is God, 
sky is God, air is God, light is God, 
darkness is God, every atom is a part 
of God, everything that we see is a 
part of God. Oh, the utter darkness 
and rank blasphemy of men! 



112 India's millions. 

We might add a hundred other 
names of gods and goddesses, but time 
and space compel us to cut short the 
list. These few will give you an idea 
of their nature and character. These 
be the gods that India's 207,000,000 
Hindus daily worship. Having such 
debasing and immoral ideas of the 
objects of adoration before them, can 
they rise any higher than their gods'? 
May God open their eyes to see the 
folly and wickedness of worshiping 
wood, stone, and all creeping things, 
every inanimate object they meet. 

Worship, 

The Hindu system of worship is as 
sickening and ridiculous as their gods. 
The objects of worship having been 
briefly noticed, a few remarks on the 
manner of worship will not be out of 
place. 
Two kinds. Worship is of two kinds : Periodical 

and Regular. There are household 
gods in almost every family in one 
sacred room on a family altar, where 
worship and adoration are rendered 
every day, morning and evening regu- 
larly. These gods are mostly pieces 



WOKSHIP. 113 

of black stone, painted with vermilion 
and consecrated, or the plant tulsi at 
one corner of the courtyard. The worn- '^®9"'^''- 
en generally worship the latter, she 
being a goddess. The former is pnt 
to sleep on a small bed every night 
when the master of the honse goes to 
sleep and a mosquito curtain is 
dropped about the bed to protect the 
god from mosquito bites. Early in 
the morning a bell is rung to wake 
the god, and then flowers and holy 
water from the sacred river Ganges 
are offered to him with prayers. 

Besides there are other gods which 
have a regular time of worship dur- 
ing the year. So all the year round 
they worship one or the other of them. 
When they have to worship a god, 
first of all they make a figure of the 
same with straw and clay and paint it 
with colors to give it an appearance of 
life. Jewels and clothes are put on, 
but the idol is not ready to receive 
worship yet. They have to bring the 
pri-est, who by his prayers brings the 
life and spirit of the particular god 
that they are about to worship into this 
idol. Then the worship begins. Eve- 



114 India's millions. 

ry day offerings are made and sacred 
books are read in the temple; these 
last four, five, or sometimes ten days. 
During this period dancing girls are 
hired to entertain the assembled 
Dancing girls, crowd on the occasion of the festival 
with their vile and obscene singing, 
and wicked and lustful gesticulations, 
which they call dancing. 

The following quotations on reform, 
from an Indian paper, will show their 
v^ile character and destructive in- 
fluence on society. 

"Not the least urgent of such subjects of re- 
form is the institution of dancing girls among us. 
Stripped of all their acquirements, these women are 
Remark of an ^ class of prostitutes, pure and simple. Their pro- 
Indian paper. Session is immoral, and they live by vice. Being 
never married, they can never be widows. Hence the 
wedding tie (in marriages) woven by these women 
xS considered propitious and sufficiently potent to 
confer lifelong wifehood on the newly married 
girl. Indeed their presence at marriages and 
other ceremonies is almost a necessity, and few 
persons who can afford the expense and are un- 
able to disregard the opinion of their neighbors 
can forbear to call, them ■- to grace the occasion. 
The dancing girl is everywhere. It is she who 
crowns all merriment at all times. If it is a mar- 
riage, she gives the finishing stroke to the gaieties 
of the occasion. If you begin to occupy a house 
newly built, the ceremony of the day is only 
brought to a conclusion when 'the house rings to 
the noise of her anklets,' as the phrase goes. 



WORSHIP. 115 

Nay; you can not treat a friend or bid farewell 
to a departing Anglo-Indian except by her 
mediation. 

**She is the bane of youthful morality. In her 
rich dress, her trained voice, and the skilful ma- 
nipulation of her hands and feet she is the center 
of attraction to the young, impressionable minds. 
If their introduction to her is too early, there is 
yet no repulsion about it. And the favorable im- 
pressions thus early associated with her, grow and 
develop with advancing years. Thus immorality 
is handed down from father to son." 

Some of the songs of these dancing 
girls are not only objectionable, but 
blasphemous. The following is a speci- 
men: ''Darling, I do not know whom Blasphemous 

to admire most, God who made you *®"^®* 
or you who were made by God! No, 
no, you are the more lovable ! The 
Almighty repents that he created you 
so beautiful. Oh, envious, jealous 
God!" etc. 

Such music and such blasphemy 
must accompany the periodical wor- 
ship of gods and goddesses in India, 
held just before the temple court, and 
what is worse than that, fathers and 
mothers, brothers and sisters, boys ^**^'^' degra- 
and girls, all eagerly listening, drink 
such deadly poison night after night. 
Sometimes the whole night is spent in 
such festivities. As the gods, so are 



116 India's millions. 

the people, and they often try to sur- 
pass one another in their vileness and 
debased practises. 

There are yet other forms of wor- 
ship which are too corrupt and ob- 
scene even to be described. We dare 
not pollute our pen or intrude upon 
the refined taste of our enlightened 
readers by violatins: the laws of de- 

Abomination 

of darkness, cency and decorum m drawmg the cur- 
tain of darkness that conceals the dis- 
gusting abominations of the Tantric 
worship. Suffice it to say that the 
^ve essential elements of their secret 
worship, often performed in the wil- 
derness or remote places far removed 
from villages or cities, and often in a 
place where dead bodies are burned, 
are: 1. Maidya— wine, 2. Mamsa— 
flesh, 3, Matsya— fish, 4. Mudra— 
parched grain, 5. Mai thuna— sexual 
intercourse. 

Extinction of desire is the final goal 
of all Hindu worship, and this is 
usually sought by the suppression of 
desires and passion, but these wor- 
shipers believe that it is to be attained 
by a full and free gratification of lust 
and passion. 



TEMPLES AKD PBIESTS. 



117 



* * The things which are done by them in secret 

it is a shame even to speak of/' — 

Eph. 5 : 12. E. V. 

Temples and Priests* 

Becanse of the vast number of tem- 
ples dedicated to the great host of Land of 
gods and goddesses in India all over ®'"p®^' 




THE MONKEY TEMPLE OP BENARES. 

the country, India has often been 
called the "Land of Temples." These 
temples are magnificent buildings of 
different size and shape, and conse- 
crated to different gods and goddesses 
in different places. In all famous 



118 



INDIA S MILLIONS. 



Temple wor- 
ship. 



cities and towns you can find scores of 
such temples. In some cities hundreds ; 
few villages can be found without one 
at least. In these temples there are 
idols made of wood, stone or clay. 
There are regular priests taking care 
of the temple and attending to the 
worship. In a small town in Bengal 
we have seen thirteen hundred priests 
in the temples. People come on spe- 
cial, auspicious occasions from all over 
the surrounding country, numbering 
sometimes hundreds of thousands, 
to offer sacrifices. Sometimes they 
gather on the bank of a sacred river 




BATHING IN THE GANGES. 



TEMPLES AND PRIESTS. 



119 



to wash away their sins. Large sums 
of money are spent to keep these tem- 
ples, but people offer enough to meet 
expenses both of the temples and of 
the priesthood. Worship and sacrifice 
of goats and kids is carried on every 
day. 

These priests send emissaries all 
over the country to allure innocent 




HUEDWAR ON THE GANGES. 
OP PILGRIMAGE. 



A PLACE 



men and women, sometimes young Pilgrimage. 
widows to come to the temples. Most 
of the journey is accomplished on foot 
and much trouble and hardship is 



120 India's millions. 

undergone. Then when they come to 
the temple, owing to ill management 
and half-cooked food they often get 
sick. Sometimes cholera or other epi- 
demic diseases break out and sweep 
away hundreds of these unfortunate 
creatures— and where? 

_Most of the priests are bad charac- 
ters themselves, and they have often 
Character of \yQQj^ prosecuted and sentenced heav- 

the priests. ^ . . „ , . 

ily at the courts of justice for their 

licentious conduct, and there is no 
wonder. 

Yet the darkest spot in the temple 
is probably the custom of having 
'^temple girls." This custom is more 
prevalent in South than North India. 
If a married couple have no offspring 
after a certain length of time they 
make a vow of offering the first child, 
Temple girls. ^^ ^ ^'^^^ ^^ ^^^ Service of the gods in 
the temple. Thus girls are sent to the 
temple, and they are ^^ married to the 
god, and a part of the marriage vow 
is to abandon themselves to every pil- 
grim in the shrine." 

These avowed prostitutes are an es- 
sential part of the temple and its wor- 
ship. It is estimated that in the Mad- 



Priests in 



TEMPLES AND PRIESTS. 121 

ras Presidency alone there are over 
11,000 such girls. 

Among the Gnjeratis there is a de- 
basing religions sect who believe that 
their priests, whom they call Mahara- 
jas (great kings), are the direct incar- 
nation of Krishna. Men and women 
prostrate themselves at their feet and 
render divine homage to them. Some 
of them go so far as to give their own ^ . 
wives and daughters to be prostituted 
by these priests, and thus they think 
they please their god by ministering 
to the sensual gratification of the Ma- 
harajas. These vile priests not only 
ruin the innocent women of their dis- 
ciples, but charge high fees for con- 
descending to sport with them. 
Strange to say, these blinded people 
not only do not resent such shameful 
practises, but rather congratulate 
themselves on such honors. 

The following are some of the 
charges : For homage by sight, Rs. 5 ; 
for homage by touch, Rs. 20; for the 
honor of washing the Maharaja's 
foot, Rs. 35 ; for the credit of swinging 
him, Rs. 40; for the glory of rubbing 
sweet unguents on his body, Rs. 42 ;for 



Their char- 
ges. 



122 

the joy of sitting with him, Rs. 60; for 
the bliss of occupying the same room, 
Rs. 50 to 500 ; for the delight of eating 
pan siipari thrown out by the Mahara- 
ja, Rs. 17; for drinking the water in 
which the Maharaja has bathed, or 
in which his foul linen has been 
washed, Rs. 19.* 

Note:— Bs. 3 equal $1.00. 

There is another equally disgrace- 
ful custom in the East, in Bengal (at 
Guruprasadi. ^^^^^ ^^ ^^^ prevailing only a few 
years back), called Guruprasadi. 
The Hindus generally give the first 
fruits of everything to their priests. 
There was a sect of Hindus who car- 
ried it to such an extreme that they 
would allow their priests first of all to 
enjoy the company of their wives after 
marriage, and tlien they would live as 
husband and wife ! Can there be deg- 
radation and demoralization greater 
than this! 

'' Imagine, if you can, this licensed 
shamelessness, this consecrated prof- 
ligacy, carried on under the sanction 
of religion, and in the full blaze of 

* Mr. Malabari in Gujerat and the Gujeratis. 



HINDU DEVOTEES. 



123 



publicity, while statesmen and patriots, 
philosophers and men of letters, 
looked on unconcerned, not uttering 
one word, and not raising one finger to 
put it down ! ' ' 

Hindu Devotees* 

Matter is sinful, therefore our body 
is sinful, for our body is matter. To 
get rid of sin is salvation, therefore to Hindu phiios- 
get salvation is to get rid of our body, ^^p^^^* 
To be in the flesh, or to have a body, 
is suffering the consequence of sin; 
therefore as long as we have a body 
we are suffering the consequence of 
our sins committed before. As suffer- 
ing begins at birth, we must have had 
sin before we were born. Therefore 
we must have existed before we were 
born. As we are suffering the conse- 
quence of former lives in the present, 
we must suffer the consequence of this 
life in the next. There is no salvation 
until this suffering is ended. Hence 
there is no salvation until we cease to 
be born again and again. 

"As a man having cast off his old 
garment takes others that are new, so 



124 



INDIA S MILLIONS. 



Transmigra- 
tion. 



Hopeless 
pessimism. 



the embodied (soul) casting oi¥ old 
bodies, enters others that are new.'' 
Some enter the womb (again after 
death) for assuming a body, others go 
inside the trunk of a tree, some become 
pigs, others dogs, some become birds, 
others flies, according to their works, 
according to their knowledge. This 
transmigration of souls will go on un- 
til they are reabsorbed in the Great 
Universal Soul— after being liber- 
ated from all matter, all desire, all 
hatred, all love, from everything good 
and evil. This is salvation, this is Nir- 
vana. When one has attained to this, 
' ' He wants nothing, . . . neither lov- 
eth, nor hateth, nor giveth, nor desir- 
eth, renouncing good and evil, desti- 
tute of attachment, . . . silent, . . . 
homeless." This is the doctrine of 
Hinduism, this is the teaching of their 
Scriptures. 

Having a creed as above, setting 
forth the pessimistic view of life, the 
Hindu soon finds out that 

' ' Path of sorrow, and that path alone 
Leads to regions where sorrow is unknown.'* 

Hence severe forms of asceticism 
are practically the religion of the dev- 



HINDU DEVOTEES. 



125 



otees of India. They devise all pos- 
sible means of getting rid of their 
bodies— to cnt short their lives, so 
that the whole number of 86,000 births severe as- 
and deaths through which each indi- ceticism 




A HINDU ASCETIC WITH BOTH HANDS 
STIFF. 

vidual must pass, may soon be over, 
after which they hope to be free from 
sin and be absorbed in the deity. 

Some go out of cities and towns, 
villages and homes, away from any 
human habitation, leaving their wives 



126 



INDIA S MILLIONS. 



and children, parents and friends all 
behind. They go far into the forests, 
and there wander about either ill clad 
or clothed in skins of wild beasts, 




A HINDU ASCETIC SITTING ON SPIKES. 

some altogether naked, living upon 
fruits and roots. Some go so far as to 
live upon leaves of trees ; some become 
altogether silent, never speaking to 



HINDU DEVOTEES. 127 

any one; some sit in thehotlndian sun. 



kindling fire all around; some have 
ashes for their covering day and night. 
They do not comb their hair nor dress 
it until it becomes clotted and knotted 
like ropes and stiff like rods. Some 
put a turban of ropes on the head; 
some si^ on beds made of spikes fast- 
ened on a plank. Others consecrate 
their one or both hands and hold them 
up straight until they wither and be- 
come so stiff that they lose all use of 
them. Some go out from city to city, 
to visit all the different temples in 
order to acquire merit for their future 
life. 

Son:e can be seen eating all unclean 
things, all refuse food thrown in the 
streets, for they do not believe in ask- 
ing for anything. Some go to the bury- 
ing-ground and feed upon dead human 
bodies of strangers or poorer people 
not cremated. 

Some cut parts of their bodies to a- 
void certain temptations; others bury 
their own heads in the sand with their 
feet up, standing, as it were, on their 
heads, and count their beads that seif-torture. 
way. Some hang themselves by 



128 



INDIA S MILLIONS. 




A HINDU ASCETIC BUEYING HIS HEAD 
FOK MERIT. 



HINDU DEVOTEES. 129 

their legs with bended knees over the 
branches of trees, connting their beads 
and saying their prayers in that posi- 
tion. Oh, the numerous other forms 
of self-tortnre they invent to get what 
they call salvation! 

Some vow to make pilgrimages, and 
start from their homes, measuring 
their length on the ground by falling 
face forward, marking with their nose 
the spot where they must next plant 
their feet, and again measure their 
length, and so they continue for the 
whole journey. Often their body is 
bruised, and the knees become swol- 
len and bleeding before they reach the 
temple. Some go into the temple and 
lie prostrate for three, five, seven, 
fourteen or even twenty-one days, ab- 
staining from meat or drink (some- ''^^*'"?- 
times ) , and determining not to get up 
until their requests are granted or 
their prayers heard by some delusive 
dream or some diabolic vision from 
the infernal regions. 

With all these, and many other 
forms of asceticism they are seeking to 
satisfy their inward craving after God, 
and yet they are not sure whether they 



130 INDIANS MILLIONS. 

are getting any nearer him or not. We 
have not met with one of them yet who 
could say he doeth good and sinneth 
not, no, not one. Poor dekided crea- 
tures ! They are 

'^ without God and without hope 
ill the world ! ' ' 

BtidcJIiisin. 

Buddhism owes its origin to Gauta- 
ma Buddha, its founder, a native 
prince of North India. He was born 

Founder. about 620 B. C. at Kapilavastu, a 
town about 100 miles north of Benares, 
the sacred city of the Hindus. This 
town was the capital of his father's 
kingdom. Gautama was married at the 
age of sixteen and enjoyed all the 
pleasures of state life up to the age of 
twenty-nine. 

One day when driving in his car- 
riage outside the town he met an old 
man passing by, leaning upon his stick. 

His early life, bent and decrepit. Astonished at 
such a miserable sight, something he 
had never seen before, he asked his 
charioteer what that was, and when 
he found out that it was a man like 
the rest of them, only he had been 



BUDDHISM. 



131 




GAUTAMA BUDDHA. 

overtaken by old age and weakness, 
and also that it was the common lot of 
ever7;^ one to pass through that state, 
he became much grieved at the vanity 
of human strength and youthful beau- 
ty. Afterwards he saw another man 
shaking with fever and groaning. By ^^^j^^ ^^^^^ 
inquiry he found out that it was the world. 
effect of sickness, which was also 
human suffering. The last scene was 



132 

a dead body carried by four men to 
the funeral pile. When he found out 
by inquiry what that was, his love for 
the world was completely destroyed. 

Life, he said to himself, was nothing 
but misery; old age, infirmity, sick- 
ness and death are inevitable. ''Vani- 
ty of vanities, all is vanity ! ^ ' So he de- 
termined to leave his palace, father, 
mother, wife and new-born babe, to 
go to the forest and become an ascetic, 
with the hope of discovering a remedy 
for all these human miseries. 

The same night he left Kapilavastu, 
Leaves ^^^ g^^ ^^^ ^^^ j^j^g wonderful search 

after deliverance from human misery, 
he cut his hair with his own sword, 
and then changed his stately garments 
with a peasant. He then went to a 
famous Brahmin and became his dis- 

Given to 

study. ciple, learned all that he could teach 

him during several years, but did not 
find what he was seeking for. He 
left him in disappointment and went 
to another and likewise was dissatisfied 
after several years' study. Then he 
left everybody and went into the forest 
and sat under a tree meditating for 
seven years. Here he found what he 



BUDDHIST BOOKS AND DOCTRINES. 133 

was looking for. He discovered that Meditation. 
salvation was freedom from desire, 
and lie assumed tlie title Buddha (the 
wise). 

He then began to preach his doc- 
trine, to make disciples, and they prop- 
agated his new faith in India. It P''eaching. 
spread like wild-fire in spite of bitter 
persecution. He died at the age of 
eighty. 

This religion is the famous Bud- 
dhism, which at one time was the re- 
ligion of one-third of the population 
of the whole world. 

Buddhist Books. 

The teachings of Buddha are sup- 
posed to be preserved in three books 
called Tri Pitaha (the three baskets), sacred 
These are the most ancient of Bud- ^^<*''«- 
dhist books. 

Buddhist Doctrine* 

Buddhist doctrine can be culled 
from the first sermon of Buddha which 
begins by saying: 

''Birth is suffering. Decay is suf- 
fering. Illness is suffering. Death is 



I. 



134 



INDIA S MILLIONS. 



Doctrine. 



suffering. Presence of objects we hate 
is suffering. Separation from all 
tiiings we love is suffering. Not to 
obtain what we desire is suffering. 
Clinging to existence is suffering. 
Complete cessation of thirst or of 
craving for existence is cessation from 
suff'ering; and the eightfold path 
which leads to cessation from suffer- 
ing is right belief, right aspiration, 
right speech, right conduct, right 
means of livelihood, right endeavor, 
right memory, right meditation. This 
is the noble truth of suffering." 

Professor Childers says : ' ' A creed, which begins 
by saying that 'existence is suffering/ must end 
by saying that release from suffering is the high- 
est good, and accordingly we find that annihila- 
tion is the goal of Buddhism, the supreme reward 
held out to the faithful observers of its precepts." 



Buddhist Precepts. 

Five commands binding upon all: 

1. Not to take life. 

Precepts. 2. Not to kill. 

3. Not to commit adultery. 

4. Not to tell lies. 

5. Not to drink intoxicating liq- 
uors. 

Three others less binding: 



BUDDHIST PRECEPTS. 135 

6. Not to eat after noon. 

7. Not to attend dancing, state 
plays, etc. 

8. Not to use perfumes. 
Two more binding on priests: 

9. Not to use high beds or couches. 

10. Not to receive gold or silver. 
Hinduism attempts to deify every- 
thing, making everything God— hu- 
man souls are gods also. Buddhism 

on the contrary is altogether silent |^a„ j^ ^js 
about God, making self or soul, of man own savior. 
everything. Hence these precepts are 
not mandatory as the decalogue of the 
Bible, commencing with, Thou shalt, 
or, Thou shalt not; for in Buddhism 
there is no higher being— no god— to 
give you the commandments. You 
take a commandment upon yourself, 
and try to observe it, '^ working out 
your own perfection" as best you can. 
Buddha, shortly before his death, 
left instruction to his disciples, ' ' hold 

FAST to the truth AS A LAMP. LOOK NOT 
FOE EEFUGE TO ANY ONE BESIDE YOUR- 
SELVES. ' ' 

Buddha did not recognize any high- 
er spirit than his own. He said: ^'I 
perceive no person in heaven or in 



136 India's millions. 

earth, . . . whom I should reverently 
iMoGod. salute.'' ^'In the world, including the 

heavens, there is no one like unto me. 
I am the supreme master. " ^ ^ I am all 
knowing. By my own power I pos- 
sess knowledge. Whom should I call 
my master ? I have no teacher. ' ' 

'^ ' Buddhism, " as Professor Olden- 
burg, of Berlin says, ^^is indeed a 

PROUD ATTEMPT TO CREATE A FAITH WITH- 
OUT A G0D_, TO CONCEIVE A DELIVERANCE 
IN WHICH MAN DELIVERS HIMSELF. ' ' 

^^ Hinduism is God without morality; 
Buddhism is morality without God.'^ 
Although Buddha did not give his 
followers a god to worship, they made 
him their god all the same. Stone im- 
ages of Buddha are kept in every 
Buddhist shrine, and incense is burned 
and worship is paid to the same every 
ReHcwor- morning and evening. In some tem- 
ship. pies they have the supposed tooth of 

Buddha, which they also worship. 
There are Buddhist temples all over 
the country, and in these temples there 
are hundreds of priests. They gener- 
ally live by begging. They have a 
yellow flowing dress tied round their 
neck. They shave their head, and of- 



BUDDHIST PHECEPTS. 



137 




A BUDDHIST PRIEST BEGGING RICE. 

ten go barefooted. Tlieir favorite 
doctrine is, not to kill, and therefore 
tliey abstain from all animal food, 
like the Hindus in South India, who 
do not even go to the market where 
meat is sold. They can not bear the 



138 



INDIA S MILLIONS. 



Differeirt 
forms of 
Buddhism. 



Origin. 



Saints. 



sight of meat or fish, as it were. They 
have separate markets for such ar- 
ticles. 

Buddhism in all parts of the coun- 
try is not exactly the same. For in- 
stance, the religion of the Tibetan 
Buddhist is very different indeed 
from that of the India and Singhalese 
Buddhists. Tibetan Buddhism will 
be noticed hereafter in its place. There 
are upwards of 20,000 Tibetan Bud- 
dhists within the Indian boundary, 
near the foot of the Himalayas in the 
North. 

Jainism. 

Jainism very much resembles Bud- 
dhism. It is an older offshoot of the 
same old Hinduism which gave birth 
to Buddhism. The system has taken 
its name from Jina — to conquer, 
meaning the twenty-four saints who 
are supposed to have conquered the 
evil passions and constructed a bridge 
across the troubled river ^ of constant 
births and deaths to the unfading bliss 
of Mr -y an a— entire cessation of exis- 
tence. They do not teach much about 
God, but hold these saints in great 



JAIITISM. 



139 




1^ 



\i 



140 India's millions. 

reverence. They are noted as temple 
builders. Parasanath, about 200 miles 
northwest of Calcutta, is a famous Jain 
mountain, containing numerous tem- 
ples. It is a great sacred place oi the 
J ains. They have a magnificent tem- 
ple in Calcutta. Most of the mer- 
chants in Bengal are Jains. ' ' Not to 
kiir' is their favorite doctrine, and is 
more strictly adhered to than the other 
Buddhist precepts. 

' ' A Jain may not hurt or drive away 
Not to kin. ii^Q insects that torment him. To lie 
naked bitten by vermin is very mer- 
itorious. The eJains are the chief sup- 
porters of beast hospitals in some 
parts of India. In such a hospital in 
Kutch, 5,000 rats were supported by a 
city tax. ' ' 

Many of the Jains would not eat 
after dark for fear of swallowing an 
insect or fly with food. Others strain 
their drinking water. They are very 
particular in walking about, that they 
do not tread upon any insect. Some 
of them always sweep the place before 

Extreme cau- ^ . ^ , < i -it 

tion against they Sit down to prevent killmg any 

killing ani- small insect. Some walk about with a 

piece of cloth over their nose so that 



ZOEOASTKIANISM. 141 

they may not inhale any invisible in- 
sect with the air ; but their kindness is 
much limited to the lower creatures. 
To their fellow beings they are not half 
so kind. They are the money-lenders 
in India, and oppress and harass poor 
people to death in order to exact the 
last cent they owe them. They strong- 
ly oppose killing of cows, but are al- 
together silent on the barbarous 4jus- 
tom of female infanticide. Truly the 
words of Christ are applicable to them: 

"Ye blind guides, which strain out the gnat, and 
swallow the camel.'' Mat. 23: 24. 

Zoroastrianism. 

Zoroaster, or Zerduscht, the famous 
ancient teacher of the East, is sup- 
posed to be the founder of this relig- 
ion. It was the religion of Ancient Jf«9'«ft»^e 

^ Bible. 

Parsees and the Magi of the Bible. It 
is one of the most ancient religions 
of the East. One of the distinctive 
characteristics of this religion is that 
it is dualistic in principle. Ahura 
Mazda is the chief deity, the good one, 
and Ahriman, the hurtful spirit, is the 
evil principle. Both of these are eter- 
nal beings and a perpetual warfare 



142 



INDIA'S MILLIONS. 



Dualistic. 



Fire-worship- 
ers. 



Tower of 
silence. 



Urine of the 
cow. 



between the light and darkness, good 
and evil, is supposed to exist between 
the two. 

Fire is their sacred emblem of pu- 
lity, and from their extreme reverence 
for it thev are often called ' ' Fire-Wor- 
shipers/' Fire is kept always burn- 
ing in their temples day and night, 
by the sweet-scented sandal wood. 
Ead-th, water and air are also believed 
to be sacred elements, consequently 
they never allow these to be tainted 
with their dead bodies. They have 
towers built outside the city called the 
^'towers of silence," where dead bod- 
ies are laid to be devoured by vultures. 
Each tower has several vultures sit- 
ting around the top, and as soon as the 
dead body is laid on the tower, they 
swoop down, and in a few minutes 
nothing is left but the bones. 

They attach purifying virtue to the 
urine of the cow. Every morning 
they bring it to the house, apply a 
small quantity to the face, hands and 
feet. Sometimes the liquid is sipped 
when they need a greater purification. 

Zend-Avesta is the sacred book of 
the Parsees, containing the sayings of 



ZOKOASTRIANISM. 



143 




144 



INDIA S MILLIONS. 



their founder with commentaries and 
notes on the same. 

They number about 100,000 and are 
mostly found in Bombay. 

M o Hammed a nisin. 



Mohainined, the founder of the re- 
ligion, was born in Arabia in 570 A. D. 

rounder. For forty years he lived a quiet life. 
While he was working as a shepherd 
for one of the rich ladies of Mecca, 
whom he afterward married, he 
claimed to have received 'a revelation 
from God through the angel Gabriel. 
This he began to teach as divine, and 
it was received by his followers as the 
Word of God. His revelations were 

Prophetic all Collected and compiled in book 

rail 

form after his death, and it is called 
the Koran. This book together with 
the tradition— called ITafe— contain- 
ing the supposed sayings of Moham- 
med are the guide books of the Moham- 
medans to-day. 

Mohammed was greatly persecuted 

Persecution, in Mecca, his birthplace, and had to 

, flee for refuge to Medina, another 

city of Arabia. Here he was received 



MOHAMMEDANISM. 145 

with open arms, enthroned as a prince, 
and his teachings were accepted. He 
then waged war against his country- 
men with the help of his new allies, 
and defeated and killed many of themi, 
took possession of Mecca and became 
master of the situation. He led sever- 
al expeditions, defeated his enemies, 
carried away much booty, selling the Retaliation. 
boys and girls whom he captured as 
slaves, while the beautiful women 
were divided among his soldiers as 
wives. He had about fourteen wives, 
many of these were widows them- 
selves. He died at the age of sixty- 
two. 

Soon after his death his warlike fol- 
lowers began to wage war against the 
surrounding nations, enforcing upon 
them this new faith, which consisted ^<*"**"®*** 
in— "There is no God but one, and 
Mohammed is his prophet. ' ' 

In course of time they invaded 
India, conquered a great part of the 
land and became the rulers of the 
country, and remained paramount 
lords of the land from the close of the 
twelfth century until 1765. 

To-day there are 57,000,000 people 

10 



146 

Mohammed- in India who profess this faith. Their 
an duties. chief religioiis dnties are five : 

1. CREED. 

The creed in general is, '^ There is 
no God but one, and Mohammed is his 
prophet,'^ and also in particular, 
faith in ^^God, his books, (the revela- 
tions), his prophets, the angels, heav- 
en and hell, the day of judgment, the 
resurrection of the dead, the throne of 
God, the heavenly pen and the book of 
life, ''etc. 

2. PRAYER. 

Prayer is to be offered ^ve times a 
day, (1) before sunrise, (2) at about 
1 P. M., (3) at about 4 P. M., (4) im- 
mediately after sunset, (5) before go- 
ing to bed. Prayer is not accepted on 
three occasions ; namely, just when the 
sun is half risen above the horizon, 
when the sun is half set below the hori- 
zon, and when it is at its zenith. No 
Mohammedan must pray at these 
three times. The prayer is mostly in 
Arabic and consists of set forms. For 
each omission of prayer the Moham- 
medan must suffer 6,400 years in hell. 

3. FASTING. 

One entire month during the year, 



MOHAMMEDANISM. 147 

known as the sacred months Ram j an, 
must be devoted to fasting. During 
the day they must abstain from all 
food, drink or smell ; at night they can 
eat. There are other fast days also. 

PILGRIMAGE TO MECCA. 

' Once at least during life a pilgrim- 
age to Mecca is enjoined upon a Mo- 

' hammedan, no matter how far dis- 
tant his home. This consists in sacri- 

I ficing some goats or camels in Mecca, 
and going round the ^' House of God" 
(the temple of Mecca) in procession a, 

I certain number of times. 

I 'ALMS. 

Every Mohammedan must give one- 
fortieth part of all his income and his 
property to the poor every year. 
1 Besides these there are numerous 
I duties of a Mohammedan. Purdah P"''^^^* 
I is only one of them, which, however, 
i has been noticed in a previous chap- 
I ter. 

Polygamy and slavery are allowed. 
A man may have four married wives „ , 

Polygamy. 

I at the same time, besides he may have 
as many slave girls for concubines as 
j he chooses. 
I To drink wine or to take usury on 



Fighting. 



148 iot>ta's millions. 

any money lent is strictly forbidden. 

Their temple is called Masjid or 
Mosqne. There are many sects among 
them, bnt all mnst turn towards the 
temple of Mecca when they pray. Most 
of their rites are exactly like the Jew- 
ish ceremonies. . 

Fighting for their faith is one of 
their sacred duties, and if one dies in 
the battle he is counted a martyr and 
goes to heaven without passing 
through judgment. 

Mohammedan heaven is something 
like a pleasure palace of an Indian 
Mohammed- monarch. There are gardens of deli- 
an heaven, cjous fruits, rivers of sweet wine, be- 
sides seventy nymphs allotted to each 
person as wives. 

The Old and New Testaments are 
believed to be abrogated; the Koran 
being the last revelation is alone in 
force. 

There are three great festivals a- 
mong Mohammedans. 

1. ID-UL-FETK. 

After the fasting month is over they 
assemble together in a mosque or in 
the open air for public worship. This 
is called Id-ul-Fetr. 



MOHAMMEDANISM. 



149 




150 India's millions. 

2. id-uj-joha. 

The same day that the Pilgrimage is 
made in Mecca, all over the Moham- 
medan world they have another as- 
sembly like the one just mentioned. 
That day they sacrifice cows, kids or 
camels in commemoration of the sac- 
rifice of Isaac by Abraham. 

3. MUHAKKAM. 

This is the celebration of the anni- 
versary of the death of Mohammed's 
grandchildren and their family at the 
hands of their enemy. The story is a 
sad and ]3athetic one. During this time 
pious Mohammedans feed the poor 
and give alms. One sect of Mohammed- 
ans, called ''Shiahs," go through the 
streets in sad procession, beating their 
breasts with sorrow, carrying a rep- 
lesentation of the supposed tomb of 
the grandsons of Mohammed. 

Mohammedans believe that their 
Visit to heav- P^^P^^^^ went Up to heaven, visited the 
en. departed saints, and saw the suffer- 

ings of sinners in hell. He had an in- 
terview with God, who honored the 
prophet by making him to sit down up- 
on his throne. Mohammed is believed 
to be the friend of God, whereas other 



SIKHISM. 



151 



prophets are only the servants of God. 

They also believe that at the day of 
judgment none but Mohammed will be 
able to intercede for the people. God 
will hear what Mohammed says and 
send people to heaven at his request. Mohammed 
Christians will be ashamed that day, intercedes. 
because they call Jesus the Son of God, 
which according to the Mohammedan 
idea is rank blasphemy. 

They also believe in a purgatory, Purgatory. 
where Mohammedans will be for a 
while for the purging of their sins un- 
til the term of their punishment is over. 
Then they mil also go to heaven. 
They believe the Christians are all de- 
luded by the devil, little knowing that ( Q 
they themselves are forsaking the only i? . ^ 
way to heaven and the only means of l-^^< 
salvation, which is by Jesus Christ our 
Lord. ' 

SiKliism. 

Sikhism is an attempt to unite Hin- 
duism with Mohammedanism, but has 
proved a failure. It is fast falling ^ 

rounder. 

back on old Hinduism. Its founder, 
Nanak, was born near Lahore in 1469 



Book. 



152 

A. D. There have been several other 
leaders following after his death. All 
their sayings are recorded in a book 
called Granth Sahib (the book), which 
is considered to be their only teacher 
at present. They number about 
2,000,000, and are found mostly in the 
Punjab. 

The following interesting conversa- 
tion of Sir Monier Williams with a 
KSikh gives an insight into their relig- 
ion. 

"Only the other day I met an intelligent Sikh 
from the Punjab, and asked him about his relig- 
ion. He replied, 'I am no idolater; I believe in 
Idea of Qj-j^g QqJ^ ^^^^ J repeat my prayers, called Japjee, 

sanctity. every morning and evening. These prayers occupy 

six pages of print, but I can get through them in 
little more than ten minutes.' He seemed to pride 
himself on this rapid recitation as a work of in- 
creased merit." 

' ' T said, * What else does your religion require of 
you?' He replied, *I have made one pilgrimage to 
a holy well near Amritsar. Eighty-five steps 
lead down to it. I descended and bathed in the 
sacred pool. Then I ascended one step and re- 
peated my Japjee with great rapidity. Then 1 
descended again to the pool, and bathed again, and 
ascended to the second step and repeated my 
prayers a second time. Then I descended a third 
time, and ascended to the third step and repeated 
my Japjee a third time, and so on for the whole 
eighty-five steps, eighty-five bathings and eighty- 
five repetitions of the same prayer. It took me 



SIKHISM. 



153 



exactly fourteen hours, from 5 P. M. one evening 
to 7 A. M. the next morning, and I fasted all the 
time, ' 

' ' r asked, ' What good did you expect to get by 
going through this task?' He replied, 'I hope i 
have laid up an abundant store of merit, which 
will last me for a long time. ' ' ' 

This is only one of many such sto- 
ries that can be narrated to show the 
ill directed earnestness of the people 
to please God and to escape judgment. 
What will not people do to get salva- 
tion? 




HINDU ASCETICS. 



15^ 



INDIA S MILLIONS. 




A HINDU ASCETIC WITH ONE STIFF HAND 
AND ARM. 



Christianity in 
India. 



Pantaenus. 



From a very earlj^ period Indian 
merchants began to carry on trade 
with Arabia, Persia and Europe. It 
is supposed that an Indian merchant, j^^^j^ ^^^ 
having learned about Christ at Alex- chants. 
andria in Eg^^pt, requested the bishop 
at that place to send them a Christian 
teacher, and accordingly, it is believed, 
Pantspnus was sent to India in A. D. 
180. About the third century a Chris- 
tian missionary named Theophilus 
visited India and found Christianity 
planted in some parts of the country. 

Besides there is a tradition that 
Thomas, one of the twelve, came to In- 
dia in his missionary tours. There is 
a hill in Madras where he is said to 
have been impaled by a Hindu 
king, and the place is called Mt. 
*St. Thomas even to-day. Be that as it 
may, there is no doubt that Syrian fT*.^" 

-^ ' "^ Christians. 

Christians came to India at an early 

155 



St. Thomas. 



156 



INDIA S MlioLlOKS. 



Roman Cath- 
olics. 

Protestants. 



Statistics. 



date and settled on the southwest coast, 
where their descendants are still liv- 
ing. They number over 600,000 in the 
Malabar coast. 

Next came the Roman Catholics. 
Francis Xavier was their first mission- 
ary in 1542 A. D. Protestant missions 
began to work from 1706 A. D., but it 
was not until 1813 that the country was 
thrown open to the gospel. 

To-day there are ninety-three for- 
eign missionary societies in India, 
with 3,736 missionaries, and 23,000 
native workers, in 1,256 stations and 
5,367 out-stations. The native com- 
municants number 376,617, and the 
other native adherents, 591,310. Ac- 
cording to another authority the 
Piotestant Christians number 1,100, 
804, while the total number of persons 
professing Christianity in that land, 
Protestants, Eoman Catholics, and all 
others, is 2,923,349. 



Evang'elization of 
India. 



A worshiping 
being. 



* ' The duty of all Christians towards missions 
has been summed up in these words : ' GO. let go. 
HELP GO.' " 

Man by nature is a worshiping be- 
ing. Human history, both ancient and 
modern, sacred and profane, emphat- 
ically proves beyond all controversy 
that however degraded and degener- 
ated a nation may be, however crude 
and uncultivated their manners and 
customs may be, and to whatever coun- 
try or nationality they may belong, 
they possess a universal instinct, which 
shows itself in religious forms and 

ceremonies. Plutarch, the famous „ 

' Plutarch. 

Greek biographer, says: ''You may 
see states without walls, without laws, 
without coins, without writings; but a 
people without a god, without prayer, 
without religious exercises and sacri- 
fices, has no man seen." Cicero, the cicero. 
distinguished Roman orator, says, 
"Among men there is no people so 

157 



158 India's millions. 

wild and savage as not to know that 
tliey must have a god, even if they do 
not know which one/' 

The past dark history of the Pagan 
world clearly shows that they did not 

Pagan world, really know which one of the gods to 
worship. So they began to worship 
anything that struck them as extra- 
ordinary in nature, until there could 
hardly be found, either in heaven a- 
bove, or in earth below, any object, 
animate or inanimate, which they did 
not worship as god. 

In India the number of gods began 
to swell from day to day until they 
reached the overwhelming number of 

Gods in India. 330^000,000, while the entire popula- 
tion of the country is only 300,000, 
000; so the number of their gods ex- 
ceeded the number of the people. 
Think of it ! In India there are more 
gods than there are people. Only a 
few years ago a man lived in the north- 
ern suburb of Calcutta, a Hindu ascet- 
ic, who is now worshiped by thousands 
as the incarnation of God. They can 
not help it. They must worship some- 
thing, somebody ! 

The question comes to us who have 



EVANGELIZATIOK OF INDIA. 159 

the light of life, the true knowledge of 

the living Grod— What will they wor- what will 

ship ? Shall we give them a knowledge *hey wor- 

of the true God and give them a chance ^^'''^ 

to worship him, or shall we let them go 

on in their ignorance and darkness, to 

live and die in abominable superstition 

and despair? 

John Stewart Mill, the distin- 
guished English atheist, used to say 
that he was an atheist, not because he j. s. Mill. 
had a god and rejected him because 
he did not like him, but because he had 
never had a god. They never gave 
him one to worship. His father, 
James Mill, the famous historian, 
wanted to train his child according to 
his own way. So at an early age he 
was introduced to the Greek and Ro- 
man philosophers, and before twelve, 
he mastered them all. He was not al- 
lowed to mix with the other boys of the 
neighborhood, lest they should charge 
his mind with noxious ideas. He lived 
among books and communed with phi- 
losophers from his tender years. He 
did not get to see an English Bible un- 
til he was twenty. All religious teach- 
ing and Christian ideas were careful- 



160 



INDIA S MILLIONS. 



Why an 
atheist? 



Question of 
questions. 



ly kept back from him. Is it any won- 
der that he became what he did? 
He became a skeptic and an atheist. 
Probably he would never have denied 
the existence of God if he had been 
given a god to worship. But alas ! he 
had never had a God to worship, until 
his mind was all distorted out of shape 
with dry philosophy and vain rhetoric 
of the old world, like the feet of a Chi- 
nese lady, placed in an iron shoe when 
she is a mere baby, so that when she 
grows up to be a woman, her feet re- 
main as small as ever, and she can 
scarcely walk upright. Who was to 
blame for it? He or his father? 

India 's millions are groping in dark- 
ness, crying for light, searching for 
God; but what shall they worship? 
Wood, stone or animals? or shall they 
have a knowledge of the living God? 
is the question of questions to 3^ou and 
to me to-day. What shall they wor- 
ship ? Krishna of myth, or the Christ 
of God ? ' ^ How then shall they call on 
him in whom they have not believed? 
and how shall they believe in him 
of whom they have not heard? and 
how shall they hear without a preach- 



EVAIfGELIZATIOlT OF INDIA. 161 

er*? and how shall they preach, except 
they be sentr' Rom. 10: 14, 15. 

Dear readers, that means you and 
me. Our blessed Redeemer made a 
complete plan of salvation for all man- 
kind, ^^for the grace of God hath ap- Salvation 
peared, bringing salvation to all men. ' ' *** ^"* 
Titus 2 : 11. He has employed you and 
me to carry this gospel to the utter- 
most parts of the world. He has left 
that command with us. The last words 
of our parting friends make the great- 
est impressions upon our minds, and 
we remember them the longest. Know- 
ing this, our blessed Savior reserved 
the most important of his commands 
for the last. He left this most impor- 
tant injunction with his loving disci- 
ples at the last scene when he was 
about to leave them. Do you remem- 
ber that command yet, or have you 
forgotten? Do you realize it is bind- 
ing upon you still? It is a command 
as much binding as any other in the 
volume of the Book. ''Go ye there- 
fore, and make disciples of all the na- 
tions, . . . teaching them to observe all *'^'**|"9 com- 

' ^ mand. 

things whatsoever I commanded you. ' ' 
''He that believeth and is baptized 



Test of love. 



162 India's millions. 

shall be saved; but he that disbeliev- 
eth shall be condemned.'' Mat. 28: 19; 
Mark 16:16. 

^^If ye love me,'' says Christ, ^'keep 
my commandments." Do we love him? 
are we keeping his commands 1 ^ ^ Why 
call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the 
things which I say ?' ' Lnke 6 : 46. The 
greatest of the apostles, who had the 
most of Christ 's mind, realized his duty 
so well, that he exclaimed with fervor: 
*'Woe is unto me, if I preach not the 
gospel!" '^I am a debtor both to the 
Greeks and to the Barbarians." Do 
we feel that way? I fear some of us do 
not, and perhaps the only reason is 
we do not feel our obligation the same. 

Tlie Necessity of Evan- 
gelization. 

The worw rj.]^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^ Christ. There is 

needs Christ. 

no other name under heaven given 
among men whereby we may be saved. 
There is salvation in none other. **I 
am the way, the truth and the life," 
says Jesus ; ''No man cometh unto the 
Father but by me." If we study hu- 
man cravings and the a^^pirations of 
human souls we clearly find they all 



NECESSITY OF EVANGELIZATION. 163 

want to go to the Father, and yet we 
know from the words of Jesus that 
they can not go there eixcept through 
him. Therefore if they are going to 
he saved and go there, it must be 
through Jesus. He alone can deliver 
them from the power and penalty of 
sin. 

Hundreds of millions are living in 
gross darkness to-day, steeped in sin, 
idolatry and superstition. Christ has 
made their salvation possible through 
his own death. He is able to save them 
to the uttermost. His plan of salva- 
tion is wonderfully adapted to all hu- 
manity, and all are capable of appro- jhey are ca 
priating it by faith and of being de- pabie of re 
livered from sin and corruption. Now 
the important question to ask is, 
^ * Shall hundreds of millions now liv- 
ing, who need Christ and are capable 
of receiving help from him, pass away 
without having even the opportunity 
to know him 1 ' ' 

To prove the great need of Christ 
for the salvation of the heathen we 
need hardly go outside of our own ex- 
perience. We know very well how we 
need Christ, how we can not do without 



ceiving Him. 



Our own ex- 
perience. 



164 INDIANS MILLIONS. 

him. Do not these sin-benighted 
heathen need him much more"? Does 
not this very fact emphatically plead 
for the evangelization of the heathen 
and make the duty of preaching 
the gospel to every creature the im- 
perative dnty of saved men and women 
who profess to have received the grace 
of God in their hearts ? 

"Freely ye have received, 
freely give." 

At the birth of our Lord, angels 
came from heaven to announce the 
glorious gospel to the shepherds on 
the plains of Bethlehem, and it was 
good tidings of great joy to all the 
for all the" people. Did the shepherds think they 
people. were the sole proprietors of the mes- 

sage! No; they hastened to the city 
and ''made known concerning the say- 
ing which was spoken to them about 
this child." Luke 2:17. They knew 
that they were only entrusted with the 
message as stewards (1 Cor. 4:1), and 
they owed to others, who had just as 
much right to it as they had. What 
a wrong it would be to keep this pearl 
of great price hidden from millions of 
men and women who have equal right 



Good tidings 



KECESSITY OF EVANGELIZATION. 165 

with US to this heavenly treasure! 
What selfishness would it be to de- 
prive more than half the human race We are stew- 
of this wonderful blessing, which we 
enjoy to-day! God has given us this 
talent, he has committed unto us the 
' ' word of reconciliation, ' ' not to tie in 
the napkin and hide in the earth, but to 
proclaim it to others, to whom we are 
debtors in this respect. 

We should put ourselves in their po- 
sition, and realize their need, and our 
duty. We were once in darkness, with- Golden rule. 
out God a'hd without hope in the world. 
if others who had the gospel had not 
preached to us, where would we be 
to-day? 

' 'As ye would that men should do 

to you, do ye also to them 

likewise." Luke 6: 31. 

A plaintive cry came over the briny 
deep from distant Macedonia to the 
Asiatic shore, calling for gospel help, 
and the great heart of Paul was 

Macedonian 

touched with compassion. He came cry. 
across and preached the word of life 
unto them, and as a result Europe and 
America are what they are to-day. 
Had not that cry been heard and at- 



166 India's miiiLions. 

tended to, had Asia been careless about 
dark benighted Europe, there would 
have been no Christian missions in the 
West to-day ; probably England would 
have been still in ignorance and su- 
perstition, and America would never 
have been discovered —there would 
have been no United States. 

Now since Asia has given the gos- 
pel to Europe, and through Europe 
to America, is it too much for them 
to ask for light and truth in return, 
when she has lost her primitive light 
and forgotten what first belonged to 
her? Since their abundance became 
quality. ^ supply to your wants in the past, is 
it too much that your abundance may 
be a supply at this present time (while 
they are in gross darkness) for their 
want of truth and the gospel of sal- 
vation? Does not the law of equality 
require the same, so that there may 
be equality, as it is written, ^'He thai 
had gathered much had nothing over, 
and he that had gathered little had no 
lack"? 2 Cor. 8:14, 15. True piety 
should stir all earnest Christians to 
real activity, for, ^'If our religion is 
not true," to use the expression of 



NECESSITY OP EVANGETjIZATIOK. 167 

another, "we ought to change it; if 
it is true, we are bound to propagate 
what we believe to be the truth." 

Tl^is duty is not only incumbent 
upon a favored few, nor is it a self- 
imposed obligation upon ourselves, 
but it is the duty of the whole church, 
imposed upon her by our blessed Sa- Labor of love. 
vior, as a labor of love and not an 
irksome bondage. It would never do 
to excuse ourselves from this individ- 
ual obligation by thinking that others 
will do it all right; I need not do it, 
I am only one, and it does not matter 
if one does not take part in it. As 
every member of the body has some 
function to perform in order to keep 
health and strength, so every mem- 
ber of the body of Christ has a part Every one 
in this all-important matter of preach- **«* ^ p^"^ *® 
ing the gospel to the unevangelized 
nations. 

There was a king who dug a tank 
and desired it filled with milk. He or- 
dered all the milkmen of his kingdom 
to bring a pound of milk on a certain 
night and pour it into the tank— a 
pound from each one would fill the 
tank according to his calculation. 



168 



INDIA'S MniTJONS. 



The disap- 
pointed king. 



More heath- 
en at his 
coming? 



Neglect of 
known duty 
is sin. 



The next morning he rose early and 
came to see his tank filled with milk, 
but, alas ! to his great surprise it was 
filled with water. The astonjlshed 
king, having a curiosity to know how 
it happened, summoned the milkmen, 
each of whom was supposed to have 
poured a pound of milk into the tank. 
Each and all replied, saying that he 
thought that all the others would do 
their duty all right, and as he was 
only one it would not make much dif- 
ference if one should pour in a pound 
of water instead of milk. So all 
poured in water instead of milk. 

Our King has left us with the in- 
junction to evangelize the world, and 
is gone to prepare a place for us. 
When he comes back shall he find the 
heathen converted and become his 
followers 1 or will they have increased 
a hundredfold, so that he will find a 
1 undred times more heathen upon his 
return than when he left? 

Again, if the evangelization of the 
heathen nations is our duty, neglect of 
duty is disobedience, and continued 
disobedience is sin. "What shall we 
say then? Shall we continue in sin 



NECESSITY OF EVANGEUZATION. 169 

that grace may abound'? God forbid. 
We who died to sin, how shall we any- 
longer live therein r' Rom. 6:1, 2. 
Is there not a danger of our losing 
the grace of God if we continue in in- 
difference as to this important work? 
Who knows how much of our spiritual 
stagnation and want of progress is to 
be attributed to this sad neglect? May 
we not forget that the glorious prom- 
ise of our Lord's abiding presence 
was granted us directly in connection 
with this command (see Mat. 28:19, Promises and 
20), and also that the promise of the conditions. 
baptism of the Holy Ghost was in 
connection with our witnessing for 
our Lord to the uttermost parts of the 
earth? How often do we desire his 
glorious blessings, forgetting altogeth- 
er the conditions upon which they are 
given ! 

If then it is our duty to evangelize 
the world, it is our duty to do it at 
once. The need is great, the demand 
is urgent. Souls are dying every hour 
—every second going down to the bot- 
tomless abyss, doomed to everlasting 
destruction; if we mean to do any- 
thing to save them, we have to do it 



Urgent need. 



170 

now. The house is on fire, danger is 
imminent, and if we onght to stretch 
forth our energy we must of necessity 
do it at once. 

We can hardly afford to neglect our 
present duty in this matter and hope 
that the coming generation will take 
Can not be {f^ ^p^ ' ' It is not possible for the com- 
next genera- ^^S generation to discharge the duties 
tion. of the present, whether it respects 

their repentance, faith or works; and 
to commit to them our share of preach- 
ing Christ to the heathen, is like com- 
mitting to them the love due from us 
to God and our neighbor. The Lord 
will require of us that which is com- 
mitted to us." 

Yet the devil with all his agents is 
The devil is ^^^y at work. They are not commit- 
busy. ting their soul-destroying, infernal 

work to the next generation. Thou- 
sands of gallons of poisonous drinks 
are being annually imported from 
Europe, and hundreds of tons of to- 
bacco from America; ship-loads of 
fancy goods and perfumes are carried 
over from Germany and France; 
teachers of Hinduism and Buddhism 
are being recruited from Europe and 



NECESSITY OF EVANGELIZATION. 171 

America to teach idolatry and super- 
stition in India!* The rising gener- 
ation of India is hopelessly drifting ^^^J"j^„^^"" 
fast along the perilous stream of lux- 
ury and vice introduced by West- 
ern civilization. Besides there are 
4,500,000 students in the primary 
schools, 151,000 educational institu- 
tions, with 16,000 college students; 
7,000 volumes pouring every year 
from 2,200 Indian presses, v^ith 700 
newspapers and 500 periodicals scat- 
tering the superstitious and erroneous 
teachings among 14,000,000 readers in 
India. Western education is knocking 
people's old faiths and prejudices, but 
what shall take the place of the old 
abandoned notions 1 Educated people railing into 
are fast falling into indifference and '"difference. 
apathy to all religious thoughts, and 
superstition and bigotry are yielding 
place to rank materialism and avowed 
skepticism for want of proper Chris- 
tian teaching and Holy Grhost demon- 
stration. 

This vast host of young scholars 



* Mrs. Annie Besant, of France; Miss Nlvedita, of Amer- 
ica, and others. 



Dreadful 
influence. 



172 

will soon have passed through their 
academical career and become the 
leaders of the rising generation, hold- 
ing leading positions in society. As 
a matter of fact only a very limited 
number (two out of a hundred) is ac- 
cessible after they enter life. Hence 
it is absolutely certain, that if they 
are to be won for Christ, they ought 
to be won at once. If not, their skeptic 
influence will contaminate the great 
host of younger folks, 117,000,000 boys 
and girls in India ! How can we ever 
hope to stem the progress of this 
dreadful influence and save this ris- 
ing generation in our day, unless we 
be in dead earnest about the evangel- 
ization of India, and make it the busi- 
ness of our lives and set to work with 
all our might at once? 

Criminal Silence. 

''And it came to pass after this, that Ben- 
hadad, king of Syria gathered all his host, and 
went up, and besieged Samaria. And there was a 
great famine in Samaria: and, behold, they be- 
sieged it, until an ass's head was sold for four- 
score pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a 
kab of dove's dung for five pieces of silver. And 
as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, 
there cried a woman unto him, saying, Help, my 



CKIMINAL SILENCE. 173 

lord, O king. And lie said, If Jehovah do not 
help thee, whence shall I help thee? Out of the 
threshing-floor, or out of the wine-press? And 
the king said unto her. What aileth thee? And 
she answered, This woman said unto me, Give thy 
son, that we may eat him to-day, and we will 
eat my son to-morrow. So we boiled my son, and 
did eat him: and I said unto her on the next 
day, Give thy son, that we may eat him; and she 
hath hid her son. And it came to pass, when the 
king heard the words of the woman, that he rent 
his clothes; (now he was passing by upon the 
wall;) and the people looked, and behold he had 
sackcloth within upon his flesh." 

''Now there were four leprous men at the en- 
tering in of the gate: and they said one to an- 
other. Why sit we here untU we die? If we say. 
We will enter into the city, then the famine is in 
the city, and we shall die there; and if we sit 
still here, we die also. Now therefore come, and 
let us fall unto the host of the Syrians: if they 
save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, 
we shall but die. And they rose up in the twilight, 
to go unto the camp of the Syrians; and when they 
were come to the outermost part of the camp of 
the Syrians, behold, there was no man there. For 
the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear 
a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even 
the noise of a great host : . . . wherefore they arose 
and fled in the twilight and left their tents, and 
their horses, and their asses, even the camp as it 
was, and fled for their life. And when these 
lepers came to the outermost part of the camp, 
they went into one tent, and did eat and drink, 
and carried thence silver, and gold, and raiment 
and went and hid it; and they came back, and 
entered into another tent, and carried thence also, 
and went and hid it. 

' ' Then they said one to another. We do not 
well; this day is a day of good tidings, and we 



174 



INDIA S MIIXIONS. 



Famine in 
Samaria. 



Abundance 
of food. 



The lepers 
stop and 
think. 



hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light, 
punishment will overtake us [or our iniquity will 
find us out] ; now therefore come, let us go and 
tell the king's household.'' 2 Kings 6:24-30; 
7 : 3-9. 

There was a great famine in Sa- 
maria and a terrible suffering with- 
in the city walls. People were dying 
for want of food, and in their hunger, 
condescended to eat abominable things 
that were not food at all. The king 
of the country could not help the fam- 
ishing multitude. 

Behold the salvation of God! Noth- 
ing to be done, everything prepared 
and ready, simply to take possession 
and eat. These lepers found the secret 
and began to enjoy it to their hearts' 
content, and giving way to natural 
avarice and selfishness, they began to 
get hold of gold, silver and raiment 
and to hide them. Their conscience 
smote them, and convicted them of 
their wrong-doing. One of them ex- 
claimed, ^^We do not well; this day 
is a day of good tidings, and we hold 
our peace : if we tarry till the morning 
light, punishment will overtake us [or 
cur iniquity will find us out].'' They 
could not hold their peace and keep 



CKIMINAL. SILENCE. 175 

silent about the wonderful glad tidings 
witliont being guilty of selfishness and 
wrong. 

Beloved, this is the day of good tid- 
ings—the glorious dispensation of the tj^Lgs?'** 
grace of God, that bringeth salvation 
to all men. There is a terrible famine 
raging within the walled city of India, 
steeped in idolatry and sin, sur- 
rounded by impervious superstition 
and thick prejudice— a famine not so 
much of bread and water, but of the 
Word of God and a true knowledge 
of the way of salvation through Jesus 
Christ. And yet we are enjoying the 
full blessings of salvation, heavenly 
peace, celestial joy, and divinest com- 
fort, to our fullest content. What 
shall we do now? Shall we gather all 
these, so richly prepared for all, and 
hide them in our land? This salva- 
tion was not prepared for us alone, 
no more than those spoils were meant . 
for the four lepers alone; they were 
fortunate enough to find it out first, 
but that did not lessen their duty at all. 
The Lord meant that a ^^ measure of 
fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two 
measures of barley for a shekel, in 



Our trust. 



Punishment 
will overtake 
us. 



176 India's millions. 

the gate of Samaria'' (2 Kings 7:1); 
but how could it come to pass, if these 
men had not gone and told ^^the king's 
household ' ' f Certainly the Lord meant 
that they should. 

Now, what about our trust? ^'The 
earth shall be filled with the knowledge 
of the glory of the Lord, as the waters 
cover the sea." Hab. 2:14. '^This 
gospel [Grreek, good tidings, see Ee- 
vised Version— margin] of the king- 
dom shall be preached in the whole 
world [inhabited earth] for a testi- 
mony unto all the nations; and then 
shall the end come." Mat. 24: 14. How 
shall the whole earth be filled with the 
knowledge of the glory of the Lord 
like the water of the sea, if we who 
have heard it do not run to and fro 
to proclaim the same'? 

This is the day of good tidings, and 
if we hold our peace we do not well. 
If we tarry in our indifference and in- 
activity until the day of the Lord ap- 
pears with blazing light, at the dawn 
of the judgment-day, at his coming in 
glory, surely punishment will over- 
take us. Do we not remember the ter- 
rible fate of the wicked servant, who 



DARK INDIA. 177 

hid his talent in the earth (confining 
the blessing in the land), without 
thinking of the '^regions beyond/' 
suffering with extreme hunger and 
thirst for God? May we not be over- 
taken with punishment at his coming'? caution. 
for ''it is a fearful thing to fall into 
the hands of the living God." May 
God give us wisdom and guidance un- 
to a proper realization of our respon- 
sibility and a faithful perfoi*mance of 
our portion of this all-important duty. 

' ' They that turn many to righteousness [shall 

shine] as the stars forever and ever. 

. . . Many shall run to and fro, and 

knowledge shall be increased. ' ' 

Dan. 12 : 3, 4. 



DARK INDIA. 



Written by Mildred E. Howard of Payne. O.. while lis- 
tening to a discourse on India's needs— July 26, 1903. 

Across Atlantic's waters, 

And India's ocean passed; 
There lives in India's country 

A people great and vast, 

Who need to hear the story 

Of Jesus' dying love, 
Of heaven's gain and glory. 

And Christian's home above. 



12 



178 India's millions. 

Oh, could you hear the story 
Of India's mighty host, 

Without your heart o'erswelling 
With pity for the lost? 

If God should call us over 
To rescue some dear soul. 

Would you or I be willing 

To tell how Christ makes whole? 

Oh, when I think of India, 
With precious souls in sin, 

My heart is stirred within me. 
That they might hear of Him 

Who died on Calvary's mountain, 
That they and we be free 

By washing in the fountain — 
India, 'twas too for thee. 

O God! My heart is bleeding! 

I think of thy great love, 
Then why should I not gently 

Lead them to Christ above? 

*0 God, save ''India's Millions" 
From darkest, blackest night! 

Oh, save their precious souls, 
And bring them into light! 



''With gospel truth unshaken. 
Their souls we seek to reach; 

Our native land forsaken. 
Precious truths to ever teach. " 



From Darkness 
into I^i^Kt. 






Born and bronght up as I was in a 
Mohammedan family— a race of peo- 
ple noted for tlieir stern prejudice and 

^ ^ '^ Born a Mo- 

blind bigotry— I had very little oppor- hammedan. 

tunity to learn the truth as it is in 
Jesus, and my conversion has been a 
wonderful miracle of the grace of 
God, which drew, as it were, a sinner 
like me out of the dire darkness of 
heathenism and worldliness, into the 
marvelous light of our Lord Jesus 
Christ— the Light of the world. 

The earliest recollection of any 
Word of God that I can think of is the Early impres- 
preaching of a Christian evangelist in 
a market-place to the effect that a man 
could not get to heaven simply by say- 
ing his prayers, or observing his fast ; 
neither by performing ceremonial ab- 
lutions, such as a Mohammedan is 
very punctilious about; but that pu- 
rity of heart was an indispensable ne- 
cessity, and an inseparable requisite 

179 



sions. 



Pure heart. 



180 



INDIA S MILLIONS, 



to an entrance into that eternal bliss. 
Though I was very young at this time, 
this new thought struck me consider- 
ably, and made an impression in my 
tender heart and teachable mind. 




Parable of 
the sower. 



A BENGALI HOME. 

About four years later I met an 
English missionary, who spoke to us 
the parable of the sower. I was at 
that time in a country town, attending 
school. The parable made an impres- 



FROM DARKNESS INTO LIGHT. 181 

sion on my mind whicli could not be 
easily effaced. I bought several 
Christian books from him, among 
which there was a copy of the New 
Testament in English. 

Soon after this there came a Mo- 
hammedan priest from Arabia, who 
claimed to be a descendant of their a Moham- 
Prophet. He was highly esteemed teacher. 
and honored by the Mohammedans, 
and people flocked to him from all 
quarters. I also went to him, listened 
to his preaching, and after a ceremo- 
nial repentance, became his disciple. 
At this time there came a change in the ^ bigoted 

^ T p -r 1 Mohammed- 

course 01 my liie. 1 became a very ^^ 

bigoted and zealous follower of Mo- 
hammed, the Prophet of Arabia. I 
began to obey the details of the Mo- 
hammedan law and tradition with re- 
gard to all the religious ceremonies 
and rites in spite of repeated remon- 
strances of indifferent and worldly 
Mohammedan friends, who thought I 
was going a little too far in religion. 
Earnestness was in my nature, and, 
^ ' What is worth doing, is worth doing 
well, ' ' was my favorite motto. 

A short time afterward there came 



k 



182 



INDIA S MILLIONS. 



Interview 
with Chris- 
tian evange- 
lists. 



High school. 



Tired of 
Mohammed- 
anism. 



some other Christian evangelists of 
the Australian Baptist denomination, 
to which the previous ones also be- 
longed; and having some interviews 
with them some of my superstitious 
notions were removed, though I was a 
staunch follower of Mohammed even 
then. 

The next year I left that town for 
the county-seat of the district to at- 
tend high school, as my course in the 
country school was over. Though a 
faithful and tenacious follower of Mo- 
hammedan law, and a zealous observ- 
er of the duties enjoined by their 
system— praying five times a day at 
stated hours, fasting during the entire 
month of Ram j an (of the Moham^ 
medan year), and the rest of the whole 
paraphernalia of Pharisaic ecclesiasti- 
cism and self-righteous worship— I 
soon got tired of these vain cere^ 
monies and meaningless mummeries, 
which could not give me any peace or 
happiness. Unconsciously, as it were, 
I gradually lost a great deal of my 
zeal and earnestness— I had almost 
said, faith not according to knowl- 
edge. I became a moralist in fact^ 



FEOM DARKNESS INTO MGHT. 183 

thougli remaining a Mohammedan in 
theory. I had never dreamed of be- 
coming a Christian. I believed that Pi'ejud'ced 
the Christians were all deluded and 
deceived by the devil, and there was 
no nse of searching the Bible for trnth. 
I went so far as to publicly and pri- 
vately instruct and admonish people 
not to read any Christian literature, 
or to go to the missionaries ; but it was Conquered 
hard for me to ^ ' kick against the ^* '^*** 
pricks." Soon I had to exclaim like 
the apostate Julian, the emperor of 
Home, ^'Thou Nazarene hast con- 
quered at last." 

My attention was attracted to the 
words of Jesus Christ upon hearing a 
part of the Sermon on the Mount, sermon on 
and a faint desire to read the Bible the mount. 
was awakened in me. Not long after 
this, one Sunday afternoon as I was 
studying in my room, a friend of mine 
came to me and in course of conversa- 
tion proposed the study of the Bible. 
It did not take me long to decide, for 
my heart was just prepared to receive 
the light. 

I was quite tired of myself. I had 
tried all possible means of salvation 



184 



INDIA S MILLIONS. 



Battle with 
sin. 



A turning- 
point. 



Mission 
House. 



from sin without success. I had 
adopted a habit of writing a diary of 
my daily life and conduct, in order to 
check vice and avoid bad habits; but 
alas ! when one sin would be checked, 
ten others would raise their heads. I 
was indeed trying by works to bring 
about my own salvation, and was 
heav^^-laden with myself and my sin. 
So the suggestion to go to the Ohris- 
tian missionaries and to study the Bible 
recommended itself to me by holding 
a faint hope in a glimmering light. I 
at once fell in with the proposal, and 
we both started for the Mission House, 
saying, ^' Never leave till to-morrow 
what you can do to-day." This was 
August 6, 1893. 

There was a Bible class conducted 
by a Miss Ehrenburg in the mission 
house belonging to the Australian 
Baptist Mission, and I became a 
student in this class. But not being 
satisfied with only one lesson in the 
week I asked if we could have a lesson 
every evening, to which she readily 
assented. We went but twice together, 
when my friend had to stop his Bible 
study, as his uncle became very much 



FE-OM DARKNESS INTO LIGHT. 185 

jpposed to it, fearing lest he should 
become a Christian; but I continued 
my study alone, never missing a les- 
son, no matter what happened. I had Bible study. 
a zeal for the sacred study, and I was 
driven to it, as it were, by an unseen 
force. The more I read the Word of 
God, the more fond I became of read- 
ing; and began to see such wonderful 
light and truth in the Bible, by which 
all my prejudice and ignorance was 
dispelled and driven away like a dark 
cloud before the strong wind. In three 
months I read the four Gospels and 
the Acts of the Apostles through, and 
learned the wonderful story of Jesus 
Christ and his love to me. I learned 
that he died for my sins and after- 
wards rose from the dead, which I 
never knew before (for although the 
Mohammedans believe Jesus to be 
a proxjhet, yet they deny his crucifix- 
ion and resurrection). 

It was at this time that my father 
died, and I had to go home, fifty miles Father's 
from this county-seat of Mymensing, **®®*^' 
East Bengal, where I was at school. 
God in his infinite wisdom and love 
thus gave me a foretaste of heavenly 



186 



INDIA S MILLIONS. 



bliss before this severe trial came, and 
I was sustained through it all. Had 
it not been for this I would have wan- 
dered far from God and plunged head- 
long into the world. 




Back to 
study. 



Persecution 
begins. 



A COUNTRY ROAD. 

After a month I went to Mymensing 
again and resumed my Bible study. 
This now became known among the 
Mohammedan community of the city, 
and they began persecution on ac- 
count of my frequent visits to the 
Mission House. My Mohammedan 
friends began to call, and by their ar- 
guments tried to prove the falsity of 
Bible truth. But instead of destroy- 



FEOM DARKNESS INTO LIGHT. 187 

ing my faith in Christ they rather con- ^^^^ 
finned it. In their discussions they strength- 
only exposed their own ignorance and ®"®*'* 
mistaken notions about the economy 
ox the grace of God. 

At last they warned me with threat- 
ening not to go to the Mission House, 
or to study the Bible. But it was too 
late, I could not now comply with 
their foolish request. I continued my 
study. One Sunday, after the class, 
the class-leader asked me to stay be- 
hind. She knew something about the Memorable 
persecution I was undergoing, and Sunday. 
was praying for me. She knew I loved 
Jesus and loved the truth. So she 
asked me what I thought of accepting 
Christ. I replied, ^^I will receive 
him when I grow up an independent 
man of some position after I leave 
school." ''Don't you believe in 
Christ?" she said. ''Yes, indeed," I 
replied. "Do you believe he died 
for your sins and rose again?" she 
asked again. I replied in the alBfirm- 
ative. ' ' Do you believe you are a sin- 
ner," she asked again. I said I was. 
Then she said that if I knelt down 
and confessed my sins to Jesus, aban- 



188 



INDIA S MILLIONS. 



Led to 
decision. 



Terrible 
struggle. 



Awful 
burden. 



Entire 
surrender. 



doning myself as a sinner, and ac- 
cepted him as my Lord and Savior by 
faith, I would be a Christian. ''Is it 
so easy and simpler' I exclaimed in 
surprise. I was expecting some elab- 
orate initiatory ceremonies to intro- 
duce me to Christ. It was almost too 
good to believe. 

She then asked me if I was ready to 
kneel down and make the confession 
to tiesus and accept him as my Savior. 
I consented, and we both knelt down 
in that little class-room, and she began 
to pray that I might make the proper 
decision and have faith in God. As 
she was praying the heavens seemed to 
have fallen on my head, and the awful 
burden of sin almost crushed me to 
death. The whole power of hell, and 
the entire diabolical force seemed to be 
let loose to keep me from praying. I 
was feeling awfully burdened, and al- 
most choked. Anything but a decision 
and a complete separation unto Grod. 
It was indeed a death struggle, in 
which I had to grapple with the very 
power of the infernal region. But the 
victory came at last, and when the time 
came to pray, I opened my mouth, and 



Victory. 



FEOM DARKNESS INTO LIGHT. 189 

my heart, too, and cried nnto my 
Savior, ^^Have mercy upon me— a sin- 
ner. " Oh, the divine comfort and 
heavenly peace that came into my 
heart! Oh, the joy unspeakable and 
full of glory that filled and thrilled 
my entire soul! All heaviness, all 
burden disappeared in a moment, and 
I rose up from my knees a new crea- 
ture—happy and glad— singing and 
praising the Lord. I could scarcely 
find expression to give vent to the 
outbursts of joy within my soul. 

This was the 3d of December, 1893, Happy day. 
and it was a memorable day indeed— 
a remarkable crisis in my life. When- 
ever I think of it now, with joy and 
gladness I sing to myself : 

''Happy clay! happy day 
When Jesus washed my sins away; 
He taught me how to watch and pray, 
And live rejoicing every day, 

Happy day! happy day 
When Jesus washed my sins away," 

From this time there was a wonder- 
ful change in my life. My affections 
and desires were all changed, and my 
manner of life was renewed. I began 
to read the Word of God every morn- 
ing and evening and spend time in 



Christian life. 



190 



INDIA S MIIXIONS. 



A secret 
believer. 



A scientific 
impossibility. 



prayer, also go to worship on Sun- 
days. But one thing was lacking yet. 
I was not bold enough to make a pub- 
lic confession. I would testify in my 
class at the school, but did not con- 
fess the Lord before society. In fact, 
I became, what is often to be found in 
India, a secret believer. I did not 
think much of baptism, and thought T 
would put it off until I finished my 
academic career and entered inde- 
pendent life. 

As a light can never be hidden un- 
der a bushel, and even if one attemp- 
ted such a scientific impossibility, 
either the light will go out for want 
of oxygen gas, which is indispensable 
to any combustion, or it will burn the 
bushel and come out in a greater blaze. 
A Christian can never hold his peace, 
^ ' for with the heart man believeth unto 
righteousness; and with the mouth 
confession is made unto salvation.'' 
Eom. 10 : 10. So it came to pass that 
I had to confess him openly. 

In January, 1894, there was an an- 
nual meeting of the Australian Bap- 
tist Mission in Mymensing, aud sever- 
al ministers and evangelists came to 



FROM DARKNESS INTO LIGHT. 191 

attend the same. Special gospel ad- spedar 
dresses were delivered for the stn- meetings. 
dents and the educated native gentle- 
men. They were a great help to me, 
and stimulated my faith to a great ex- 
tent. 

It was during these meetings that I 
had an interview with Mr. B. A. Nag, interview. 
a Baptist evangelist of Dacca, East 
Bengal, who presented to me the need 
of baptism. I saw it clearly as a com-' 
mandment of the New Testament, and 
yet was not quite ready for it. Bap- 
tism for an Indian convert means a What bap- 
complete separation from his own *'**",'" '"^''^ 

^ ^ involves. 

father and mother, brothers and sis- 
ters—yea, all that are near and dear 
to him after the flesh; he has to die 
to reputation and good name, popu- 
larity and public opinion ; he must be 
utterly forsaken by his own friends, 
who almost invariably become his bit- 
terest enemies as soon as he is bap- 
tized. I looked confused at my friend's 
question regarding the subject, and 
I told him I was not clear as to my 
duty concerning the same. I presented 
to him the difficulty of the position, 
and he assured me that God was well 



192 



INDIA S MILLIONS. 



Perplexed 



Definite 
Prayer. 



able to counter act all possible evil, 
and when my father and my mother 
forsook me, the Lord would takeme up. 
''Believest thou this!" he asked. I 
saw it clearly in my head, but did not 
feel like saying, ^'Yea," from my 
heart. After prayer I left him with a 
promise to answer his question in the 
affirmative the next day after having 
had prayer at home. 

I shall never forget the state of my 
mind that day and the night follow- 
ing. I was altogether restless with 
the thought that T was not wholly for 
God, and the thought of the tremen- 
dous loss from a worldly standpoint 
was also a great perplexity to me. 1 
spent the night in much prayer, but 
was no better. In the morning I be- 
came more earnest and fervently 
prayed for grace. I begged God to 
reveal his will concerning the matter. 
At last in my extreme embarrassment 
I asked a sign of the Lord. I said, 
''Lord, after prayer I shall open the 
Bible, and wherever it opens, I desire 
that thou shalt speak to me thy mind 
from there. ' ' I got up from my knees 
and opened the Bible, and the message 



FKOM DAKKNESS IKTO LIGHT. 193 

the Lord gave me was 2 Chr. 16 : 9. 

It reads: ^'Tlie eyes of the Lord run Remarkable 

to and fro throughont the whole earth, 

to show himself strong in the behalf 

of them whose heart is perfect toward 

him.'' 

Though I had never read the pas- 
sage before, the whole thing was clear 
as daylight to me. I saw how my heart 
was not perfect toward him. I saw how 
anxious the Lord was to tind such as 
are wholly for himself, and how he is 
anxious to show forth his almighty 
power in their behalf. The whole 

. Difficulty 

problem was clear to me. I exclaimed, cleared. 
' ' Yea, Lord, I believe ; help thou mine 
unbelief. ' ' The struggle was all over, 
and the unrest and confusion all gave 
way to the heavenly joy and divine 
peace that filled my entire being. I 
was at rest. 

I was very anxious to go to the 
Mission House to tell my friend about 
my experience, but I had to go to 
school. As soon as the school was 
over I ran to the Mission House, and 
told my friend that I was able to re- Ready for 
ply to his question in the affirmative, baptism, 
and that I was also willing to be bap- 

13 



194 



INDIA S MIUilONS. 



The Lord's 
voice. 



Examination 
at school. 



tized. I need scarcely add that they 
were as glad as I was. 

The next question to' settle now was, 
'^WhenV^ I was not ready to give 
an immediate reply, but I knew how to 
get it, which Miss Ehrenburg at once 
suggested. She said it would be bet- 
ter if we asked the Lord to reveal this 
matter to us. We began to pray, and 
after a while as we were praying I 
heard a voice saying, ^^Now is the ac- 
cepted time; now is the day of salva- 
tion.'' I perceived it was the Lord 
speaking to my soul, though I had 
never read that in the Bible. (I had 
read no more than the four Gospels, 
Acts, and B.omans at that time.) 

The whole question was settled, and 
I was ready for baptism ; but as it was 
too late for that day, it was decided 
that I should be baptized the next 
morning, which was the first opportu- . 
nity for observing the ordinance,. 
Now, our annual examination was to 
commence the next day, which ought 
to keep every student busy in the 
morning; but I thought I must first 
obey the Lord, and then go in for the 
examination in his strength. 



FKOM DAEKNESS INTO LIGHT. 195 

Early in the moming the next day 
I came to the Mission House, and as 
I was waiting for the minister I re- 
ceived a letter from a Christian friend, . , 

^ A remark- 

a missionary, expressing her surprise able (etter. 
that I was not yet baptized, and hoped 
that I would be in a position to say 
when replying to her letter that I was 
already baptized. She gave me much 
encouraging counsel on following 
Christ and taking up the cross. 

This was indeed a remarkable in- 
cident, for the Lord caused her to 
write this letter to encourage my heart 
while waiting for baptism. The letter 
was written before it was decided that 
I should be baptized that morning. 

Soon after I was baptized, and as 
I was coming up out of the water, oh, 
the joy unspeakable and full of glory 
that filled my soul in obeying my Lord, 
and being conformed to his death by 
burial! I could scarcely refrain from 
exclaiming for joy like the Queen of sheba. 
Sheba at Solomon's palace: "Even 
the half of it was not told me before. ' ' 

After my baptism I went to my 
friends ' in the city where I was living, 
and told them the whole story. They 



196 



INDIA S MILLIONS. 



Change of 
home. 



Consolation 
from an un- 
expected 
source. . 



News reach- 
es home. 



were unwilling tliat I should stay witli 
them any longer. So I had to remove 
to a Christian home, where the Lord 
directed me in answer to prayer. 

As soon as I was baptized the news 
spread through the city, and my 
friends turned against me, and the 
teachers and students in the school be- 
came my enemies. But the Lord pre- 
pares a table for his beloved in the 
presence of his enemies; so when I 
went to school, one of the teachers 
came near me, as I was sitting in the 
examination room, and wrote on a 
piece of paper words of encourage- 
ment and comfort, congratulating me 
upon my baptism. It was a great sur- 
prise to me to find that Hindu teacher 
expressing his mind in that way. He 
giveth water even from the rock. 

Persecution went on as the days 
passed by, and in the meantime my 
own people at home got to hear about 
my baptism. Nothing could be more 
unwelcome and unpleasant to them 
than this news. It was worse than the 
news of my death would have been to 
them ; but my uncle was not altogether 
disheartened; he would by no means 



FROM DARKNESS INTO LIGHT. 197 

keep quiet without trying once for ail 

to persuade me from the faith. So 

he came to the city with several men, ^"^le lying in 

and lay in wait for me. As I was going 

to school, they suddenly appeared 

from behind the banyan trees and 

took hold of me, and putting me into 

- T . , ^ Captured on 

a closed carriage, drove away irom ^^^ ^^y ^^ 
the city towards home. As they got school. 
hold of me I had only time to breathe 
a prayer, asking God to be with me as 
he was with Joseph when he was sold 
to the Ishmaelitish merchants and car- 
ried away into Egypt. 

They told me my grandmother was 
seriously ill, and they must therefore 
take me home. There was no other al- 
ternative but to yield. My Christian carried 
friends did not know anything about *'<""®* 
it. They thought I was in school. By 
evening we had gone about twenty- 
five miles from the city, and the rest 
of the way we had to walk. We 
reached home the next night, and 
found my grandmother sick, but there 
was nothing serious about it. It was 
simply a fabrication of my uncle's; all 
Indian parents have recourse to this 
kind of tricks when trying to persuade 



198 



INDIA S MILLIONS. 



Pathetic 
appeal to 
feelings. 



a convert. To lie on sucli occasions 
Religious lie. for the Sake of winning one to their 
faith or reclaiming an apostate is not 
sinfnl, according to their standard of 
morality; nay, such teachings are a 
part of their religion. 

The first weapon they used in order 
to dissuade me from the truth was a 
pathetic appeal to my feelings. They 
began to cry and weep and break my 
heart by working on my sympathy, and 
I began to weep with them (Rom. 12: 
15) ; but the words of Jesus suddenly 
came to my mind, saying, ''He that 
loveth father or mother more than me, 
is not worthy of me." Mat. 10: 37. It 
acted like a powerful stimulant upon 
my sinking heart, and gave me fresh 
strength and courage. I remembered 
then the heroic words of a boy of 
seven, who said: 

"Jesus, and shall it ever be, 
A mortal man ashamed of thee? 
Ashamed of thee whom angels praise, 
Whose glories shine through endless days?" 

My heart was fortified against all 
such devices of the devil, whose fiery 
darts were all quenched at every one 
of his subsequent attacks. From 



Renewed 
Strength. 



FROM DAEKNESS INTO LIGHT. 199 

this time, these trials could not move 
me. 

Failing in this, they had recourse to 
sorcery and witchcraft. They used to 
charm my room, and bed, that I might gn^j^charm. 
not go out any more. They used to 
charm my food and drink to make me 
forget all about my Lord, and em- 
ployed various other follies to accom- 
plish their wicked object; but to their 
great disappointment and utter con- 
fusion, every one of them became noth- 
ing but failures. Sorcery could have 
no power, of course, when the mighty 
power of God was at work. 

Then they attempted to poison my attempt to 
food, trying to affect my head, so that poison. 
they might nullify all my testimonies 
for Christ, telling people that I was 
simply mad. The first day they failed 
in the attempt, when they offered me 
milk mixed with the juice of some 
poisonous leaves, which in suspicion 
I refused to take, though I did not 
know what the mixture was. But they 
mixed some of the seeds of the same 
plant the second time with another 
preparation, and I took it in igno- 
rance; but, praise the Lord, I did not 



200 India's millions. 

know of it until a year had passed! 
The Lord fulfilled his own promise 
(Mark 16:18) and I was shielded, 
from the evil consequences of the 
deadly poison. 

A plan which they carried on all the 
time I was at home, practically a 
prisoner in their hands, was drawing 
me before the priests and professors 

Controversy 

with heathen ^^ have discussious With them. I had 

priests. not acquainted myself with the art of 

controversy or the science of apology 
to maintain a polemic discourse, but 
I was acquainted with Him whom 
I had believed, and was persuaded that 
he was able to keep me unspotted from 
the world. For himself hath said, 
'^When they deliver you up, be not 
anxious how or what you shall speak. 
For it is not ye that speak, but the 
Spirit of your Father that speaketh 
in you." Mat. 10:19, 20. 

Almost every day, one or another of 
these priests would come to have con- 
troversy with me, with a view to dis- 
suade me from the faith, but the Lord 
gave me wisdom and power which none 
of my adversaries were able to with- 
stand or gainsay. Glory be to his 



FROM DARKNEBS INTO LIGHT. 201 

name ! All their arguments and soph- 
istries were utterly confused, and the 
Lord confounded every one of them. 
He showed himself strong in my be- 
half, according to his infallible prom- t^g Lords. 
ise. After the enemy was routed, I 
often wondered how I could have 
gained such a wonderful victory. It 
was not by power, nor by might, but 
by the Spirit of the Lord, that all this 
was accomplished. All glory to God! 
One day my uncle invited a man of 
high position and influence to meet ^ J"^" ®^ 

. . . T 111 influence 

me, thinking his words would have invited to 
more effect upon me than those oppose. 
of others. "When I heard he was come, 
I was a little nervous, and lifted up 
my heart to Grod in prayer and asked 
for grace to help me. The Lord so 
wonderfully turned the table against 
the enemy that after half an hour's 
conversation the man turned quite „ . ^ 

^ He IS chang- 

friendly to me. He confessed that I ©d and 
was of God, and that the rest of them speaks in 
were all wrong. He reproved them 
all for persecuting me ; he found noth- 
ing in me, he said, that was worthy of 
censure; so the Lord was glorified, 
and the devil was defeated. 



202 



INDIA S MILLIONS. 



Old school- 
master in 
favor. 



A Christian 

renegade 

called. 



Another day my uncle took me to 
my old schoolmaster, expecting he 
would admonish me for becoming a 
Christian. He thought his words 
would carry more weight than those 
of others. I prayed to God that for 
his glory he might stop the mouth of 
this Hindu schoolmaster. The Lord 
answered prayer in a remarkable way, 
and the schoolmaster instead of blam- 
ing me for my faith, rather expressed 
his pleasure at my religious zeal that 
had even led me to change my old 
faith when I found it defective. I 
came home rejoicing, and my uncle 
disappointed. 

On another occasion my uncle sent 
for a Mohammedan preacher, a noted 
controversialist, to come and have con- 
troversy with me. I knew that he was 
a Christian renegade, and was an ef- 
ficient instrument in the hands of the 
devil in turning many from the faith. 
He lived about 300 miles from our 
home. My uncle sent for him and 
made all arrangements, but I did not 
know anything about it until the noon 
of the day when he was expected. 
Horses were sent for him to the steam- 



FROM DiOlKNESS INTO LIGHT. 203 

er station, twenty-five miles from our 
home, and he was to arrive on the 
same evening. 



A STEAMER STATION IN BENGAL. 

When I heard this, I began to pray 
that if it was possible the Lord would p^^y^j.^ 
hinder his coming; if not, strengthen 
me to meet him, for his glory. He 
heard my prayer and answered it. 
When he came to this place, twenty- 
five miles from our home, he received 
a message from home, to the effect sad news 
that his brother was seriously ill, and fro"" home 
that his presence was urgently re- ^^^^ "" 
quired at home. So he went back at 
once, and could not come to our home. 



204 



INDIA S MILLIONS* 



Salvation of 
God. 



Uncle 

changes his 
mind. 



My uncle was again disappointed, and 
the Lord got the victory. In these 
battles I did not have to fight at all ; I 
stood still and saw the salvation of 
God.* 

By this time my uncle got sick, and 
I told him that he would not get off 
unpunished if he continued his rebel- 
lion against God and his cause. He got 
perplexed and proposed to let me go 
to school. Before this he said that he 
would never let me leave home or 
meet any Christian. If I did not obey 
him, he would chain me to my bed and 
break my leg to keep me in doors. He 
would starve me and put me in strait 
places, if I persisted in my faith. I 
was a prisoner in their hands. I 
could not go where I wanted ; vigilant 
watch was kept over me and all my 
movements, both night and day. All 
outward communication was stopped, 
and my letters and all mail were inter- 
cepted. 

I had no one to look to for help but 
God. I did not have even a copy of 
the Bible with me. Among the old 



* These are only a few of God's wonderful dealings, too 
numerous to mention here. 



THE NEW LIGHT. 205 

books I searched and found a copy of 
the English Testament and some other 
Christian books that I had bought be- 
fore my conversion. They became a 
great help and comfort to me. How 
wonderfully the Lord arranged for 
all these things before I knew any- 
thing about them. He prepared the 
way before me, knowing all this 
should come to pass. 

'' God moves in a mysterious way 
His wonders to perform." 

Now, my uncle consented to my 
coming out, and not only that, but he Set at 
supplied my passage money and nee- ^*^^'^^' 
essar}^ clothing also, and set me for- 
ward on my journey in a goodly man- 
ner. ^^ When a man's ways please the 
Lord, he maketh even his enemies to 
be at peace with him. ' ' Prov. 16 : 7. 

THe New I^iglit. 

At the end of twenty-five days I was 
set at liberty and came back to Mymen- 
sing. I need hardly tell you that T g^^.^ ^^ 
was glad to be free again. I came to school. 
the school and went on with my stud- 
ies, though from thenceforth I spent 



206 



INDIA S MILLIONS. 



Sad discov- 
ery. 



Leprosy of 
the soul. 



more time in the stndv of the Word 
of God. Everything went on all 
right, and I was passing my days in 
peace and joy in believing, when all 
of a sudden to my surprise I felt the 
stirrings of something within ; at first 
I did not know what it was, until it 
was told me that it was the residue of 
the old man— the root and principle 
of all sinful actions. It was indeed a 
sad discovery to me. I never expected 
fhp>f p.nY such unclean thing should re- 
main in my heart even after my con- 
version; but whatever my expecta- 
tions were, the old man was there all 
the same. 

I was very anxious to get rid of this 
root of bitterness, but they told me my 
disease was incurable, and there was 
no remedy for it this side of the grave. 
But somehow that did not satisfy me. 
T did not like this loathsome leprosy 
of the soul. If Christ can not save me 
any further than this, T said to myself, 
the gospel is a failure alike with the 
law. All other religions had the same 
plea to make for the continuance of 
the human depravity. I was confused, 
and yet I was not disheartened. I was 



THE NEW LIGHT. 207 

confident of the trath of the Old Book, 
and I began to search its pages with 
great diligence to find out if there was tj^^o^ul"^ 
any remedy for this. 

I did not have to search for it long. 
I saw in the Word of God there was 
provision for the removal of this cor- ^?^^ J^^^ 
roding human disease. It held before 
me a life higher than that I possessed, 
an experience better by far than what 
I had. There was a perfection after 
the divine pattern, a holiness founded 
upon his spotless purity. 

T began to enquire of every one I 
had any respect for about this pearl Earnest 
of great price — about this wonderful 
experience— like the love-sick Shula- 
mite anxious for her beloved; but I 
did not receive any substantial hope 
from any one ; each one had to tell the 
same sad story. 

Then I began to read books on this Reading 
subject, and read all that I could get books. 
hold of. At last I got tired of it. I 
wanted something more than an intel- 
lectual comprehension of the matter. 
I wanted an experience that would sat- Knowledge 

isfy. I prayed and fasted and shut my- ^f' ^^^^' 
•^ ^ -^ -^ rience. 

self in a room for seasonsbut the work 



208 



INDIA S MILLIONS. 



Coming to 
Calcutta. 



Multiplicity 
of creeds. 



was not done. This went on for a year. 
At this time, about the middle of 
1895, I came to Calcutta to enter col- 
lege, as my course in Mymensing was 




THE Maidan of eort william^ Cal- 
cutta— a LAEGE PUBLIC GROUND. 

finished. At this flourishing metrop- 
olis of India, I was more embarrassed 
than before. Another important ques- 
tion confronted me right here. In the 
country there was only one church, 
one meeting-house, but in this city 
there are dozens, and scores of stee- 
pled houses, and I was at a loss to ac- 
count for their multiplicity and vari- 



THE NEW LIGHT. 209 

ance of creed and discipline. I did not 
know whicli of them was more Scrip- 
tural, and which of them to go to. 

Finding that the Salvation Army 
preached and believed abont ** holi- 
ness of heart, ' ' I was specially attract- Salvation 
ed towards them. I began to attend '^'"^' 
their meetings regularly and mix with 
them freely. It was at this time I 
learned the long-sought-for secret of 
entering into the blessed experience 
of heart-purity. The Lord sanctified 
my heart by a second and definite work 
of grace, subsequent to regeneration. 
I entered into the blessed promised Enters 
land flowing with milk and honey, ^«"««"- 
after such a long wandering in the 
wilderness of human opinions and 
man-made creeds. My joy was then 
full, and my heart saturated with the 
peace of God that passeth all under- 
standing. 

After this blessed experience I re- 
ceived a fresh zeal and love for lost 
souls, such as I did not have before. 
I began to visit young men in their ., 

^ . More ac- 

homes and lend them Scriptures and tivity. 
distribute tracts among them. I began 
to feel more and more the leadings 



210 



INDIA S MILLIONS. 



Sunday after- 
noon visits. 



A strange 
question. 



Plans over- 
thrown. 



of the dear Lord in this kind of work. 
I used to spend Sunday afternoons 
in visiting the students in their board- 
ing-houses. One day I went to see one 
of my cousins, who was also studying 
in the city. I gave him a Bible, and 
he read some parts of it. He marked 
some passages which he wished ex- 
plained. In course of conversation he 
asked me if I was a believer. ' ' Indeed 
I am," said I. He said, "Can you do 
any of those miracles that are recorded 
in Mark 16: 17, 18?" I said they were 
to be spiritually understood, they were 
not literal (for so I was taught to be- 
lieve). He said, ''Then what about 
the other miracles related in the same 
book attributed to Jesus Christ? are 
they also spiritual?" I saw my posi- 
tron in a moment, and after further 
conversation I took leave of him for 
the day, but his question did not leave 
me. 

I began to think and pray about it. 
It seemed to have overthrown all my 
plans, for I was thinking of becoming 
a doctor and preaching the gospel to 
my countrymen at the same time. I 
felt a special call to work for God. I 



THE NEW LJGHT. 211 

felt the burden heavily, and yet I was 
not prepared to take a salary from the 
mission societies. If I disliked any- 
thing, I disliked a hireling ministry. 
'^Freely ye have received, freely 
give,'' was my Master's command; called to 
and ^^to make the gospel with- work for God. 
out charge" was Paul's example, and 
so I decided not to *go beyond what 
was written.' Consequently to be- 
come a medical missionary was my 
only alternative. But the more I 
prayed, the more I felt that I was not 
planning aright. "How much more 
to the glory of God it would be," I 
said to myself, "if I could heal the 
sick without having recourse to medi- 
cal science and poisonous drugs." I 
began to search the Scriptures again, 
and found the twofold ministry all a- 
long the line— the forgiveness of sins qj^j^^ ^^Q^_ 
and the healing of diseases— in the ing. 
glorious plan of salvation. Though 
not a single soul whom I knew was of 
the same mind with me in this matter, 
yet standing upon the Word of God 
I decided to accept the Lord for my 
physician. 

The next question was about the 



212 



INDIA S MILLIONS. 



The church 
question. 



Plymouth 
Brethren. 



"To the law 
and to the 
testimony." 



Resultant 
conclusions. 



cliurch. I was still attending the Sal- 
vation Army meetings, and took a 
great interest in their movement. Two 
things in them attracted me, their 
self-sacrifice and simple living, and 
their teaching of holiness. At this 
time one of my Baptist friends came 
in contact with the Plymonth Breth- 
ren, and urged me to study their 
doctrines and organization. I read 
some of their books and pamphlets^ 
but finding they did not believe in 
holiness of heart as a second work of 
grace, which I had already found in 
the Word of God and in my practical 
experience, I was not very much drawn 
to them. 

However, I decided to search the 
Word of God again on this important 
matter and stop reading anything un- 
til I had read the Old Book through. 
I began to study the New Testament 
on my knees, and in course of six 
months I finished the whole New Tes- 
tament, and came to the following con- 
clusions on the matter: 

1. God has but one church. 

2. God's church is named by God. 

3. Christ is the head of the church. 



THE NEW LIGHT. 213 

4. The Holy Ghost is the adminis- 
trator of the church. 

5. He organizes the church, and ap- 
points his ministers. 

6. There must be unity in the 
church in all matters of doctrine and 
practise pertaining unto life and god- 
liness. 

7. There are no sinners in the 
church of God. 

8. A hireling ministry and program 
worship is foreign to the church of 
God. 

9. The love of God is the only tie 
that binds believers together. 

10. The Word of God is the only 
guide in all matters, doctrinal and spir- 
itual. 

When I came to these conclusions 
from the Word of God, I found my- 
self in an isolated place ; I could not 
join any of the denominations then. 
I became ''peculiar" in every way. 
I used to spend the greater portion of 
my time in reading the Word of God 
with other students in the college, and 
some of them became favorably im- 
pressed with these views. One of 
these younger students was Bro. 



Isolation. 



214 



IKDIA S MILLIONS. 



Prayer- 
meeting in 
the college. 



An advertise- 
ment. 

Samples of 
American 
holiness 
papers. 



Gospel 

Trumpet 

catalogue. 



Books. 



M. Moses. We used to come together 
often in the college rooms and sing 
and pray together. These prayer- 
meetings were indeed blessed hours 
spent in sweet communion with God 
and fellowship with each other. 

We went on in this way for some- 
time, in spite of the reproaches and 
persecutions of our Christian friends. 

About this time I saw an advertise- 
ment in a paper, to the effect that a 
man in Texas was offering to send 
samples of holiness papers published 
in America, on receipt of a silver dime. 
I was very anxious to know what was 
going on in America about this doc- 
trine of holiness, and so sent my name 
with remittance to the party. Soon 
after, I began to receive all sorts of 
papers from America, some of which 
I liked more than the others. Among 
these samples there came a copy of 
the Gospel Trumpet catalogue of 
books. Being fond of study, I was 
eager to find out what books they were ; 
and when I read the names and con- 
tents of those books, such as ^^ Divine 
Healing of Soul and Body,'' *^ Sal- 
vation, Present, Perfect, Now or Nev- 



CALLED TO WORK. 215 

er, " ' ' Chnrcli of God, '''' What Church 
Should I Jom?" etc., etc., I was very 
eager to get these books. I sent for 
them at once, and I need not tell you 
that I was more than satisfied. I 
found in these books just the things s^^gt 
that the Lord was teaching me all those fellowship. 
days. I saw how the Lord leadeth all 
his children by his own Holy Spirit, 
no matter where they may be, irre- 
spective of their color and creed. 

Called To WorR. 

At this time I met R. N. Mundul, 
who was grieved at the corruption and 
depravity in the so-called churches of 
God, and patiently ^ booking for the 
consolation of Israel, ' ' like Simeon of 
old. He had been praying for a bet- 
ter order of things for a long time, 
and was indeed delighted to find us of 
the same mind. We agreed upon Meetings 
meeting together at least once in the begun. 
week for divine worship. From this 
time our regular public meetings be- 
gan. Others began to come, and there 
was considerable stir among the peo- 
ple. 



® (B MA 




218 India's millions. 




BEO. N. N. MUNDUL AND WIFE, CALCUTTA. 



CALLED TO WORK. 219 

We decided to publish these truths 
for others of our countrymen whom we Publishing 
could not reach in any other way. We 
began to pray about the matter very 
much, and the Lord led us to launch 
out. We started to publish a paper 
both in English and Bengali, ^'The 
Fire Brand"— a monthly magazine— 
exclusively of religious matter. 

The Lord began to bless us wonder- 
fully in supplying all our needs, both 
temporal and spiritual. Both in our 

meetings and outside, he confirmed his ^ ,. \ . . 

^^^ '* faith- 
Word with the signs following. At this fui. 

time we received two printing-presses 
for our publishing work, but having 
no type and other materials we could 
not make any use of them until some 
time afterwards. It was in 1898 that 
1 left college and began to devote my 
whole time to the Lord's work. For 
one year I labored in Calcutta, in both 
publishing pure literature and preach- 
ing the Word of God, and thoughts out 
of many hearts began to be revealed 
upon the publication of the truth. Some 
burnt and destroyed the paper, others 
solicited its discontinuance under ec- 
clesiastical obligation, while a few ex- 



220 



INDIA S MILLIONS. 



Called to the 
country. 



Leaves for 
Bogra. 



Never heard 
the gospel. 



pressed their joy and pleasure in ap- 
preciation of the truth. Many hunger- 
ing and thirsting for righteousness 
cheerfully responded in words of con- 
gratulation and thanksgiving unto the 
Lord. 

About this time I felt called to go 
out in the country to preach the gospel 
to the heathen. I found that within 
200 miles of Calcutta there was the 
entire district of Bogra, with a popu- 
lation of 1,000,000, altogether with- 
out the gospel. No missionaries were 
stationed there, and the Lord laid this 
place on my heart. We left for this 
district in the beginning of 1899, leav- 
ing other brethren in Calcutta to man- 
age the publishing work, while we did 
the editorial work from this place. 

Bogra is 209 miles northeast of 
Calcutta, a district with over a million 
inhabitants, four-fifths of whom are 
Mohammedans; there are over 4,200 
villages, most of which have never 
seen a follower of Christ, or heard the 
sound of the gospel. They do not even 
know that a Savior died for them and 
that salvation is possible in this life. 
The entire population is steeped in sin, 



CALLED TO WORK. 221 

superstition and idolatry. We began 
to herald tlie glad tidings of great joy 
to them, both in public and private. 
We opened Bible classes for young 
people, and Sunday-schools for boys, 
and a great interest was evinced in 
these efforts. Private and public dis- 
cussions followed, and the people be- 
gan to be stirred on the vital ques- 
tions pertaining to sin, the soul and 
salvation. 



At work. 




A VILLAGE MARKET. 

Besides these we used to go to the lyia^ket 
market-places, where people gather places. 
regularly twice every week for mer- 
cantile purposes, and preach to the 



Places of 



222 India's millions. 

gathering crowd, who never heard 
anything of the kind before. We used 
to sell gospels and Scripture portions 
to them, and distribute tracts to follow 
the spoken words. 

At the periodical feasts and wor- 
ship there are also such gatherings as- 
sembled, which last for one or two 
weeks : we visited them also. At times 
there are pilgrimages made in some 

pilgrimage. a i 

parts of the country to the nvers, 
where they come from all quarters to 
wash away their sins. Hundreds of 
thousands gather on these occasions 
from all parts of the country; these 
seasons afford a grand opportunity to 
preach the gospel and to spread the 
truth far and wide. 

During this year our first book on 
Publishing of c.^^^^^^ Backsliding, Its Cause and 

books, etc. ^' 

Cure'' was published. ''The Church 
of God" followed soon after, which is 
V free translation of Brother Warner's 
tract of the same name. Then came 
two pamphlets, ''Carnality" and 
"Seven Aspects of Divine Healing," 
and after that a book on "The Ideal 
Church" was published, setting forth 
the present truth on the church ques- 



CALLED TO WORK. 223 

tion, and the ordinances of tlie New 
Testament. It has over 200 pages. 
Then was published a book on ''The 
Old Man'' of about 120 pages. These 
are all Bengali publications. Be- 
sides our English paper, a tract on 
''Schism'' was published in 1899. 

After the first year the size of our 
paper was changed, and after the sec- 
ond it appeared in two separate cov- 
ers, one English, the other Bengali. 

All our work is conducted on faith 
principles, and the Lord answered our 
prayers remarkably on that line, as 
well as on others. We can testify for 
the glory of God that we have never „g supplies 
lacked a thing that we needed, and aii our need. 
never went without one single meal. 
Our Grod supplieth all our need ac- 
cording to his riches in glory by 
Christ Jesus. True, we have our trials ^^.^^^ ^^^ 
and tests of faith, but he has never triumphs. 
left us nor forsaken us. Bless his 
name ! 

Even in that heathen land of Bogri 
sometimes help came from unbeliev- 
ers, Hindus and Mohammedans, which 
could not be refused because of their 
earnestness and importunity. People 



224 



INDIA S MILLIONS. 



Fed by a 
raven. 



Visit to 
Bombay. 



Bro. Moses' 
sickness. 



nowadays do not believe in the ravens 
feeding the old prophet in the wilder- 
ness, and the only cause of their nnhe- 
lief and skepticism is that they do 
not believe in the God of Elijah. Only 
recently we were fed by a raven, when 
money was dropped in onr yard by a 
crow flying overhead. God has not 
changed ; he is the same yesterday, to- 
day, and forever. ^*They that seek 
him shall not lack any good thing,'' is 
as trne to-day as it was in the days of 
David. 

Besides working in Bogra, in 
preaching the gospel to the heathen, 
and working in editing and publishing 
literature, we went out in distant parts 
of the country to hold meetings in an- 
swer to repeated calls. I will give a 
brief account of only two such tours. 

In August, 1900, Bro. Moses and 
myself went to Bombay, over 1,400 
miles from Calcutta. We had a suc- 
cessful series of meetings, in which 
we set forth the whole counsel of God. 
Soon after we set forth the glorious 
truth on divine healing Bro. Moses 
fell ill. He was brought well-nigh to 
death; the neighbors and friends be- 



CALLED TO WORK. 



225 



came terrified and advised us to seek 
medical aid. We held on to God, and 
the next morning they were all sur- 
prised to see him walk out of doors. It 
was a remarkable corroboration of the 
truth preached in that city. We had to 
pass through some trials, but the Lord 
was with us, and brought us through 
with victory. Praise God! 




BOATS FOE CARIIYI:NG GOODS FROM THE 
COUNTRY TO IMPORTANT PORTS. 

In January, 1902, we went again to 
East Bengal, and held meetings almost Tour in East 
all day for one week, and the Spirit ^®"9«'- 
of the Lord wrought mightily in peo- 
ple's hearts. We saw sinners falling 



226 



INDIA S MILLIONS. 



One day for 
healing. 



Back to 
Calcutta. 



upon their faces from their seats, and 
crying for mercy as the Word went 
forth. We preached the whole truth. 
When the Word of God was preached 
to them about the ordinance of feet- 
washing they all raised their hands 
approving of the truth, and asked for 
an ordinance meeting, in which all 
joined, and the Lord was glorified. 
So many came forward for healing 
that we had to set aside one whole day 
for going from house to house, pray- 
ing for the sick; and to the glory of 
God we can testify that we received 
letters even after six months, saying 
that they were all healed and enjoyed 
healtli till then. One of these was a 
blind boy of ten, the only child of a 
poor widow. At the close of the meet- 
ings sixty persons came forward to re- 
ceive benefits of the Lord. There was 
great joy in that place. Many were 
saved, and some were sanctified. 

In November, 1901, the condition of 
the work and other peculiar circum- 
stances made it necessary for me to 
come to Calcutta and take charge of 
the work in the city. We had to pass 
through a peculiar and severe trial 



CALLED TO WORK. 227 

for some time, but the Lord gave us 
glorious victories. We resumed our Resuming 
work in May, 1902, with renewed zeal ^^^ ' 
and perseverance. The publishing work 
was pushed with more activity, and 
we changed the name and size of our 
paper. Though at this time there was 
a falling away on the part of some of ^^^^ abided 
our brothers, the Lord added others to to the Lord. 
help his cause. By means of pure lit- 
erature the Holy Spirit gathered a 
church in the Khasi Hills of Assam. 
We knew some of the brethren before. 
Last year we came in contact with 
Bro. J. M. Eoy of the Khasi Hills, now ^^^; ^' ^' 
studying in Calcutta. He is a great 
help in the work, and is being used of 
the Lord in writing literature in his 
own language. One of his works is in 

, ^ . Books in 

the press now. A short account will Khasi. 
be given of the Khasi Hills hereafter. 
There are four brothers working at 
present in Bogra. Bro. Moses is with 
them. They are pushing the battle work in 
strenuously to the very gates, and the ^"^^a. 
Lord is blessing them. 



228 



INDIA S MILLIONS. 



Otir Home. 



helpless. 



Outcast and 
forsaken. 



Young minds are generally sus- 
ceptible to change and pliable in re 
ceiving the truth before they enter 
Converts are life 's stern battle-field. Hence the con- 
verts in India are generally such as 
are young and inexperienced in world- 
ly affairs, and consequently unfit and 
unable to maintain themselves until 
they are trained for one or another of 
the many occupations. 

But as soon as a young man ac- 
cepts Christ, he is an outcast; his fa- 
ther and mother forsake him, his own 
])eople disown him. He is a curse to 
their society, and wherever he goes 
persecution and hatred follow his 
steps. 

For such helpless youths, as soon 
as they are converted from their old 
ways, the first thing needed is a 
' ^ hom^e, ' ' where they can have sympa- 
thy and care, instruction and training, 
until they grow to be men capable of 
taking care of themselves. Again, 
there are others who are not free to 
lollow the Lord fully, because they 
are not independent. No sooner do they 



Need a home 
and training. 



OUE HOME. 



229 




230 INDIANS MILLIONS. 

begin to act according to their con- 
victions, than they, too, are cast out. 
They also need a '^home,'' where they 
can be instructed and builded upon 
the Word of God, that they may be 
strengthened and established in the 
truth. 

Therefore a "training home^' is an 
Indispensable necessity to successful 
started in evangelization and substantial edifi- 
Caicutta. cation. Our home was started on this 
plan, and with this object, because 
passing through the various stages of 
a convert's life we have well realized 
the necessity of the same. 

At present there are only a few 
young men in the home; among the 
inmates are two from our new field— 
Bogra. One of these is the son of one 
of the bitterest opposers of the gospel 
in that place. The Lord so worked 
that his son has come out to confess 
Christ. 



KHASI HILLS. 231 

KHasi Hills. "^ 

The Khasi Hills form a part of As- 
sam, and lie on the south of the Brah- 
maputra valley. The country is noted The country. 
as having the heaviest rainfall in the 
world. The hills contain fine lime- 
stone, and it is exported in large quan- 
tities to the cities in the plains. 

The people are very simple and 
hardy. Most of them are laborers. The people. 
and they live by agriculture. Oranges 
grow in abundance, and are exported 
to the neighboring cities. 

They live in huts, usually made of 
wood and bamboo, covered with leaves. 

They speak a language peculiar to 
Inemselves, which is of monosyllabic 
nature, and has no synonyms, each 
word signifying only one thing. They 
have no characters, but the Roman *-«"9uage. 
is used in both printing and writing. 
Before coming in contact with Western 
civilization they did not have any lit- 
erature in their language. 

Though they believe in one supreme 
God, yet demonolatry seems to be their 



* Mostly taken from the account written by Bros. W. 
M. and J. M. Roy for the author. 



232 



INDIA S MILLIONS. 




A VILLAGE MARKET IN KHASI HILLS. 



Fear of 
demons. 



practical religion. They are always 
afraid of the demons or evil spirits. 
They believe that all their sicknesses 
and other calamities come from evil 
spirits. So when they are sick, they 
never take any medicine, but they of- 



KHASI HILLS. 233 

f er sacrifice to the demons, which con- 
sists in breaking eggs on a piece of 
wood prepared for that purpose. 

Among some tribes or clans of these 
people, there is a peculiar custom of 
keeping a snake, called thlem, which serpent 
they believe keeps them from evil and mystery. 
sends them prosperity and wealth. 
The serpent is kept in a dark room at 
one corner of the house. They say 
that this serpent can make itself as 
big as the largest serpent, and as small 
as a needle, and that it can sometimes 
make itself invisible to the naked eye. 

During the winter it remains quiet, 
but in summer it wants human blood. Wants human 
and therefore the keepers have to hire 
men whose profession is to kill men. 
They go about in the solitary walks 
and mountain passes in the dead of 
night and fall upon some unfortunate 
traveler. They take the blood of their 
victim in a tube and leave his dead 
body without touching any money, jew- 
els, or any treasures he may have had 
on his person. 

This blood is offered to the serpent; 
tor if it does not get any blood, it 
attempts to kill somebody in the fam- 



234 



INDIA S MILLIONS. 



Dead bodies 
in the 
streets. 



Everlasting 
bondage. 



ily. So they are obliged to follow the 
inhuman practise of killing their fel- 
low men for blood. Often dead bodies 
are found even in the streets of the 
cities, and no trace can be found of 
the murderers. Generally the influen- 
tial and wealthy persons keep such 
serpents, and so nobody dares to wit- 
ness against them or to expose them 
to the law; hence they escape their 
proper punishment at the hands of the 
government. 

It is also believed that when once 
a family or clan keep a thlem they are 
bound to keep it always. The serpent 
would by no means leave the house 
unless all the property gained during 
the time the serpent has been in the 
house be thrown away— even their last 
cent, as well as the last piece of cloth 
they may possess. Then again, who- 
ever will take the articles thrown 
away must take the serpent also. So 
they are bound by an everlasting chain 
of bondage to the devil. 

The population of the Hills is about 
200,000. There are only a few towns 
of any importance; the following are 
noteworthy. 



KHASI HILLS. 235 

Shillong. — Is the capital of Assam, and the resi- 
dence of the chief commissioner. 

Cherapunji. — Is a sanitarium. It has an annual 
rainfall of 521 inches. 

There are many petty native chiefs, 
governing several small states, though 
all are subject to British rule. Peculiar 

There are no railways in the coun- conveyance. 
try. Horse carriages are very few. 
There is a peculiar form of convey- 
ance in these Hills, and that is, being 
carried by men. They carry travelers 
seated on a chair which is tied on 
their back, at the rate of 30 miles per 
day. They charge from $1.50 to $2.00 
for every 30 miles or so. 

There are Protestant missionaries 
working among these people with 
great success. Their adherents num- Church of 
ber 16,640. There are a few who have 
received the full light and are walking 
in it and have to undergo great perse- 
cution, but are standing true. They 
number about fifteen, both male and 
female. 

The work of the Lord is started in 
this place, and he is prospering it, 
adding daily such as are being saved 
to the number of the faithful. 



236 



INDIA S MILLIONS. 



Tibet. 



Bro. Moses 
called to 
Tibet. 



Tibetans in 
India. 



Boundary. 



In 1899, when I was called to preach 
the gospel in Bogra, Bro. Moses was 
called of God to go to the great closed 
land of Tibet. As it was closed to the 
gospel and all foreigners he could only 
go as far as the frontier, and stay near 
the boundary line. He lived there for 
over a year, and the Lord wonderfully 
helped him to learn the language. He 
is waiting upon the Lord for other 
workers, so that they may go to the 
borders and work among the people 
he loves with all his heart. 

Since there are many Tibetans liv- 
ing within the British territory and 
coming in contact with the people of 
India, and since the Lord is moving 
our hearts to work in that field, a short 
account of this people and their coun- 
try will not be out of place here. 

The country is bounded on the north 
by Mongolia and the Kuenlun moun- 
tains ; on the south by the Himalayan 
ranges and India; on the east by Chi- 
na, and on the west by Kashmir, and 
Chinese Turkistan. 



TIBET. 237 

The estimated area of Tibet is 652, 
000 square miles ; and consists of rug- '^''««- 
ged mountains and arid tablelands. 
The plateau of Tibet is the highest in 
the world, having an elevation of 
16,000 feet above the sea level. The 
length from east to west is over 1,600 
miles, and the maximum breadth is 
700 miles in the east. The great rivers 
of India, Burma and China— including 
the Indus, the Brahmaputra, Irawadi, 
the Yellow river and the Yangtse- 
kiang— owe their origin to this lofty 
tableland. 

The climate is dry and cold. Win- 
ter is excessively cold. The atmos- Climate. 
phere being void of moisture prevents 
putrefaction ; therefore instead of rot- 
ting, things exposed to the wind be- 
come dry and can be ground to a 
powder. 

Tibet is rich in minerals. Gold is 
found in the river-beds, and in the „. 

^ Minerals. 

rocks, but mining is not allowed. There 
is a superstitious belief that if nug- 
gets of gold are taken out of the earth 
no more gold-dust will be found in the 
river-beds— those being the roots and 
these the fruits. Other metals, such 



238 India's millions. 




A TIBETAN PRIEST CASTING OUT EVIL. 



TIBET. 239 

as silver^ copper, and tin are also to 
be found. 

Politically, Tibet is under the Chi- 
nese government, of which it is a trib- Goernment. 
utary. Lassa is the capital. The peo- 
ple belong to the Mongolian race. 

The language of Tibet is of the 
monosyllabic or Chinese class. It has 
a copious literature, chiefly religious. 

The religion of Tibet is a form of 
Buddhism, mixed up with demon wor- 
ship and magic. They believe in de- Religion. 
mons, and evil spirits, and often the 
evil spirit is cast out by the priests. 
Every priest has a metallic instrument 
called dorje, which he holds between 
the fingers and the thumb, and waves 
backward and forward to drive away 
evil spirits. There are other elaborate 
ways of casting out devils, one of 
which is shown in the picture. 

There is another custom which re- 
calls to mind the story of the scape- 
goat of the Bible, and it consists in tak- 
ing the evil out of the land. A priest sc^'a^pe.goat. 
offers to carry all evil out of the coun- 
try, or a province, if each family will 
make up a bundle of money, supposed 
to contain all the evil of that family, 



240 



INDIA S MIU^IONS. 




A TIBETAN PKIEST TAKING THE EVIL OUT 
OF THE LAND. 



TIBET. 



241 



and give it to tlie priest. He takes 
all these bundles, supposed to contain 
the evil of the land (while in reality 
they contain a large sum of money), 
and leaves that part of the country to 
go elsewhere. 

The head of the religion is called 
the Cxrand Lama (Dalai Lama), who ^;",^'Jt^r 
is supposed to be an incarnation of Pope. 
Buddha. There are other priests who 
are commonly designated Lamas. 

There are 32,000 priests in the city 
of Lassa alone, living in thirty monas- 
teries, kept up by an annual expense 
of $25,000. Besides, the sum of $45,000 
is required for other religious ser- 
vices in the capital. 

The land is full of monasteries and jg^pies and 
lamas or priests. "At Litang, with a priests. 
population of 1,000 families, there is 
a monastery containing 3,000 lamas; 
another just outside the town contains 
nearly as many. At Betang, where 
there are only 300 families, there are 

1,300 lamas in the monastery 

There are from 25,000 to 30,000 lamas 
in the monasterv of Amdo.''* 



16 * The Great Closed Land. 



242 



INDIA S MILLIONS. 



Sacred 
books. 



tiection of 
Grand Lama. 



His office. 



Their sacred, books, like their priests, 
are numerous, and consist of 225 
volumes. Great importance is at- 
tached to the reading of these books. 
"~V\n:ien these are to be read, the forty 
thousand loose leaves into which they 
are divided, are distributed among 
the lamas of the monastery, who are 
seated at tables or on carpets on the 
floor, and all proceed to chant or read 
them as fast as possible, stopping now 
and then to drink tea. Each lama 
reads about forty leaves in a day"* 

' ' When the Grand Lama dies, or, as it is 
thought, when his sonl passes into another body, 
the names of all the male children born at the 
time have to be sent to Lassa, the capital. Three 
children are selected; their names are written 
and placed in a golden urn. The child Avhose name 
is drawn out is proclaimed Grand Lama. He is 
carried through the city with great pomp, and 
placed in the golden temple, which he never leaves. 
The Grand Lama often dies young, supposed to be 
secretly murdered by those who wish to rule in his 
name."t 

The Dalai Lama is not only a spirit- 
ual head of the whole religious system 
of Tibet, but he is also the acknowl- 
edged political head and the nominal 
ruler of the country. His chief duty 

* The Great Closed Land. 
t The Nations of India. Madras. 



TIBET. 243 

is ^'to sit cross-legged in the temple, 
and hold out his hand in the attitude 
of benediction. He is supposed to be 
always in a state of abstract medita- 
tion for the good of mankind. ' ' 

''On an equality with the Dalai Lama in rank, 
sanctity, and spiritual dignity, is the PancJienBin- 
pocJic (i. e., most excellent jewel) of Trashilumpo, His viceroy. 
southwest of Lassa, who acts as viceroy of the 
Dalai Lama when he becomes of age; and the 
highest honor any Buddhist priest can aspire to, 
is to receive ordination at his hands. People come 
in great numbers to the Fanchen Binpoche to seek 
his blessings, all bringing offerings with them. 
Laymen of high rank are blessed by the direct 
imposition of hands; nuns and inferior laymen 
have a cloth interposed between their heads and 
the sacred hand; a still lower class are touched 
as they pass with a tassel which he holds in his 
hand. Boys and girls of seven and eight years of 
age are brought to him to be devoted to the mon- 
astic order, which he does by cutting off a lock 
of hair from the crown of the head with a knife. 
As many as three thousand people are admitted 
for blessing at one time."* 

This great host of lamas— blind 
leaders as they are— with their gross Blind 
deception and awful delusion, are '®«**®'**- 
blinding and deceiving hundreds of 
thousands of the simple-hearted peo- 
ple of the land, whose ill-directed re- 
ligious zeal is manifested in their 
superstitious practises. 

*The Great Closed Land 



244 



INDIA S MILLIONS. 




TIBET. 245 

The brightest hope of a Buddhist is 
to be divested of all desire, which is 
the source of sorrow and pain. Those 
seeking this olessed ultimatum are 
recommended to fix their eyes upon a 
small image of Buddha, or on a reli^. 
of a saint, or the last letter of the Tib- 
etan alphabet placed before them, 
and gaze upon it until every other idea 
is lost. 

Another custom to be met with 
everywhere in Tibet is the constant 
breathing or humming of a set form 
of pra^^er, composed of a six syllable 
sentence: ^^Om mani padme Hum/' 
'^Om, the Jewel in the Lotus, Hum.'' 
Every Tibetan believes this to be a 
cure for all evil, a compendium of all 
knowledge, a summary of all relig'on. 
It is supposed that the oftener this 
formula is repeated, the shorter will 
be the person's course of transmigra- 
tion. These six syllables are mur- 
mered morning, noon, and night by 
every man, woman, and child in Tibet. 

"The words are written or printed 
on rolls and inscribed on revolving 
cylinders, which is said to have the 
same efficacy as to have them repeated. 



Practise of 
asceticism. 



Tibetan 
prayer. 



246 



INDIA S MILLIONS. 



Prayer- 
wheels. 



II the words are printed a million 
times, to turn round the cylinder once 
is equal to repeating them a million 
times ! There are little prayer-wheels, 
which the more devout carry with 




A TIBETAN WOMAN TURNING HER 
PRAYER-WHEEL. 



TIBET. 247 

them, turning them round with the 
hand or a string*. ... A favorite plan 
.s to set a prayer-wheel where it will 
be turned day and night by a stream 
of water. Thus the Tibetan, asleep or 

. ii X 1 • 1 • Virragepray- 

awake, supposes that he is laying up i„g machine. 
a stock of prayer for merit. In some 
cases there are large wheels supplying 
merit for a whole village."* 

Not only do they have prayer- 
wheels and prayer-cylinders at their 
homes or in public places, but at all 
the cross-roads and mountain passes 
hundreds of prayer-flags can be seen '^^^^^' ^^s. 
hanging from the trees, attached to 
long strings. The magic formula ''Om 
mani padme Hum'/ is printed ot in- 
scribed on bits of rags and flags, sus- 
pended from these ropes. As they are 
blown by the wind, merit is counted 
on their account, and amounts to re- 
peating the hol}^ ( I ) words. 

These magic words are also in- 
scribed on pieces of rocks, trees, mon- 
uments, strips of paper, and every ^''^v®''" 
place where they could be written. 
The whole atmosphere seems to be 

* The Nations of India. 



248 India's millions. 

pervaded with these prayers. So a 
Tibetan prays, not only with his lips, 
but also with his hands, by turning the 
wheels and machinery by water, or 
smoke, and with flapping yards of cal- 
ico upon which thousands of prayers 
are printed, and attached to tall poles, 
that by the action of the wind these 
prayers may be wafted to their god. 
Yet the great majority of them, 
while they manifest an indefatigable 
zeal ill repeating their prayer hun- 
Praying to dreds and thousands of times, do not 
"Nobody" for know the meaning of it. Dr. Pente- 
"Nothingi" ^^g^ ^^^^ ^g^^^ ^ Buddhist devotee 

who was turning his prayer-wheel with 
great zeal, to whom he was praying. 
He replied, ^'To nobody." Being 
asked what was the object of his 
prayer, he said, ^'Nothing." Oh, the 
miserable condition of these helpless 
creatures ! They are praying without 
ceasing, day and night, to nobody, for 
nothing. Can there be darkness 
greater than this? 

In Athens there was an altar dedi- 
cated to the Unknown God, and when 



TIBET. 



249 



the apostle saw it his heart was 
grieved, and he could not refrain from 
declaring to them the God whom they 
ignorantly worshiped. Now in Tibet 
there are thousands of temples dedi- 
cated, and millions of prayers offered 
to the unknown God. Who will go and 
declare the everlasting gospel of joy 
and peace to these millions of deluded 
creatures, groping in the thickest of 
darkness, feeling after God, if haply 
they may find him? 

' 'Oh, who will go for Jesus across the stormy wave, 
And o' er the rugged mountains some precious soul to 

save? 
Oh, who will go in highways, and in the haunts of sin. 
With messages from heaven, and gently lead them in?" 



Unknown 
God. 



Trumpet call. 




A BULLOCK CABT. 



250 



INDIA S MILLIONS. 



Plenteous 
harvest. 



Gospel 
unheard. 



Otir Prospect. 

''The harvest truly is plenteous, 
But the laborers are few." Mat. 9: 37. 

India's immense field with an a- 
bnndant crop is 'white already to har- 
vest.' Sin-sick sonls are chafing un- 
der the heavy and unbearable burden 
of slavery; and the clanking of their 
heavy chains forged by the devil to 
bondage are almost audible to sympa- 
thetic ears. They are laboring and 
are hea\^-laden with man-made creeds 
and spurious doctrines, striving to ob- 
serve the traditions of men imposed 
upon them by the devil and his agents, 
in preference to the pure and simple 
Word of God. But who will go and 
proclaim the glorious gospel of eman- 
cipation, the message of love and 
blessed freedom to them that are in 
heathen darkness? 

In India to-da}^ there are hundreds 
and thousands of places where even the 
faintest ray of gospel light has not 
shone ; the people are sitting in awful 
darkness. They do not even know 
that a Savior came into the world to 
die for them. They have had no chance 



OUB PROSPECT. 



251 



to hear of Mm, and far less to accept 
him as their Savior. Our blessed 
Lord, when he was on earth, was not 
forgetful of the need of the Gentiles, ^""^""^^^ **^ 
for ''leaving Nazareth he came and 
dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the 
sea, in the borders of Zebulun and 




■'■■ ■ ® • ir\^-- ■' 








AN ASCETIC BURYING HIS HEAD. 



252 



INDIA'S MILLIONS. 



Example of 
Paur. 



Important 
questions. 



Naphtali: that it might be fulfilled 
which was spoken by Isaiah the 
prohet, saying, 

''The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, 

Toward the sea, beyond Jordan, 

Galilee of the Gentiles, 

The people that sat in darkness 

Saw a great light. 

And to them that sat in the region and shadow of 

death, 
To them did light spring up." Mat. 4: 15, 16. 

Paul, the apostolic missionary, 
in whom the spirit of Christ dwelt, 
felt the same burden for the heathen, 
and therefore he made it his aim to 
preach the gospel, not where Christ 
was already named, but as it is writ- 
ten, 

"They shall see, to whom no tidings of him came, 
And they who have not haird shall midarstan d. " 
Eom. 15: 21. 

Are there no Pauls to-day in the 
church of God, who would think as 
Christ thought, and make it their aim 
to preach the gospel where it has not 
been preached? Jesus was always 
anxious that the prophecies should be 
fulfilled, for the Scripture can not be 
broken. Are we as anxious for the 
same? How shall dark India see a 
great light if we who are the light of 



OUE PROSPECT. 253 

the world do not shine as luminaries 
in the midst of a pervferse and crooked 
generation 1 

There was a time when India was 
not open to the gospel, and evangel- 
ization involved personal danger and Better day? 
great difficulty ; the journey was long 
and tedious, and often dangerous; but 
that time is over; brighter days have 
come, for which we must thank the 
Lord. 

Fast steam vessels have made the Difficulties 

reirioved* 

journey short and pleasant, and the 
spread of Western civilization has 
made evangelization safe and easy ; but 
where are the laborers! 

Prosperous and successful missions 
can now be opened in almost all im- B^jg,,^ 
portant centers of the country with prospect. 
great results, and the truth of the o-os- 
pel can be spread from shore to shore 
in a very short time ; but where are the 
workers I 

The closed land of Tibet is waiting 
for the gospel, and we are anxiously 
waiting for helpers to open work at 
the frontier, where Bro. Moses hopes 
to go as soon as the Lord will send 
some other workers to go with him. 



254 



INDIA S MILLIONS. 




OUR PROSPECT. 



255 



A great work can be carried on there ; 
a great harvest of souls ; but again I 
ask, Where are the laborers? 

In the South there is a crving need 
of the gospel, and there is more than 
enough work there for several work- 
ers. 

Nearly everywhere a great and 
glorious prospect exists for a success- 
ful opening if there were enough 
messengers to open the work. 



Where are 
the laborers? 



L_. . . 


S" 




■iiiillipillifi 


^^^^^ 


^b^^ 


^^^^^^i 


^^^ 




W^m^'^W 


^i 




' '''^P^i^f^^BSfi^HB 


t-'- ■' '' ' " "tr'° 


^•. .-j^^mSt 


H^igi:' 


-■■^^^^fe 



FEMALE BATHING PLACE IN THE GANGES, 
CALCUTTA. 

Above all there is need of lady work- 
ers. Men can only reach men, work 



256 



INDIA S MILLIONS. 



Appeal to 
our sisters. 



Their co- 
operation 
a necessity. 



among men, and nnless there are 
enough female workers, almost half 
the number of India's millions are not 
reached at all. Women are not 
allowed to come to the public meetings. 
They do not know whether there are 
Christians in the land or not, unless 
some lady missionaries go to visit 
tnem in their inner apartments with- 
in the four walls, and speak to them 
of their Lord. 

This is not only necessary for the 
salvation of India's women, but also 
for the boys and young men. For 
often do we hear young men who have 
studied the Bible, and are convinced 
of its truth, and are convicted of their 
sins, sighing when asked to accept 
Christ, and saying: "Oh, it will break 
my mother's heart if I do not worship 
the idols ! It is so hard to convince her 
of its folly and wickedness." In 
hundreds of cases a public confession 
in India becomes all the more difficult 
on account of the gross darkness and 
awful ignorance prevailing among 
women. 

As man is not complete without the 
woman, so in India man's preaching 



OUR PROSPECT. 257 

is not complete without the woman's 
visiting of the homes. Woman's 
work often helps in breaking away the 
fetters in many cases. 

As soon as a man confesses his 
faith in Christ he is not only cast out 
from his home, but he is deprived of ^ ^^^^ 
all family connections and all the nat- hinderance. 
ural ties of aifection are also severed. 
His young children are not allowed , 

to go with him, his wife is not al- 
lowed to talk to him or see him. Hence 
a man with natural affection for his 
wife and children would often hesi- 
tate to step out in faith. So often he 
waits for happier days when his wife 
also will be persuaded to the truth, 
that they may both come out together. 
But, alas! the opportune hour often 
does not come, and though the sum- 
mer is ended, and the harvest is over, 
they are not saved! and all this ver- 
haps owing to the utter ignorance of 
women ! 

This is the work of the women of 
Christian ]ands, this is their portion 
of this blessed work. Who will go to ^^^^ 
tell them of the Savior and his cross? 
I think I hear some say, ** There is 
plenty to do right here in this so-called 

J7 



258 



INDIA S MILLIONS. 



Home 
missions. 



Pharisees of 
to-day. 



Figures and 
facts. 



A com- 
parison. 



Christian land." But listen! We do 
not nndervalue the necessity of home- 
mission work, for it is a work that is 
needed. But think of the millions 
abroad who are without any light. 

The so-called professing Christians, 
and the avowed skeptics of this land, 
can be compared to the Pharisees and 
Sadducees of our Lord's time. But he 
did not spend his whole time in Jeru- 
salem and Judea, he came to Galilee 
of the Gentiles also; and yet heathen 
lands are not free from professing 
Christians and avowed skeptics by any 
means. 

Then again, think of the number! 
There are hundreds and thousands of 
children of God among 76,000,000 peo- 
ple of the United States, whereas 
there are only a few among the 300, 
000,000 of dark India. Which country 
needs you most— 76,000,000 with all 
the light and help they need, if they 
simply will have it- or 300,000,000, 
groping in utter darkness, feeling their 
way after God, if perchance they may 
find himf Who needs you most? 



OUR PROSPECT. 259 

May God help yon to see the awful 
need, and also yonr binding respon- 
sibility ! 



THE EVENING CALL. 



I 



Words and air by 
J. C. Blaney. 



^-t- 



Harmonized by 
A. L. B. 



S3 



m 



«i 



i=^ 



r=5 



1. Far a- way in foreign regions, Hound by strong Satanic chains. 

2. See them in their blind devotion Bowing down to wood and stone: 

3. Mill-ions of our fellow creatures Steeped in sin on India's shore; 

4. Oh, dear broth-er! oh, mv sis-ter!Give \ our talents, time and store 



2: t ♦: £ 



^^^^^^ 



■^-^- 



-f*— ^ 



■s?- 



^^— W- 



->— V— y- 



r- 



— PS — I — oi — W~^—0 — a( — H- 



i 



J^: 



Blood-bought, sin-sick souls are dying In a land where darkness reigns. 
Nev- er heard the death of Je-sus Was for sin-ners to a - tone. 
Shrouded in the grossest darkness Af-ri - ca has millions more. 
Free-ly for to save the heathen Ere they're lost for-ev-er-more. 



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None to tell the love of Je-sus To those poor, benighted souls, 
Will you leave them still in darkness. With their hearts so full of sin? 
Popish priests and carnal prophets Hid the truth in gloom of night; 
Be in haste, for time is flv-ing; Oh, be-hold their awful plightl 



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CB.o.-Brother. will you go and save them? Sister, hear their plaintive cry: 



EES: 



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3 



Per-ish-ing in hea-then blindness While the Judgment nearer rolls 
While the cleansing fount is open, Oh, my brother, help thorn in. 
But the Lord now saves his people In the precious eveniniz light. 
Je-sus weeps o'er sinners dv-ing: Send them now the gospel light. 






g 



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Des-ti- tute of hope they're dying While you're idly standing by. 

260 



POPULATION OF 

GLOBE AND INDIA. 




AREA OF GLOBE 



AND INDIA. 



AREA DF GLOBE 



^^Q^^^P 



POP. OF INDIA 
299,126,618. 



POP. OF U. S. A. 

INCL. ALASKA & HAWAII 

7B.3D3.3B7 



AREA OF UNITED STATES 
3.085.500 SO. MILES 



AREA OF INDIA. 



AREA OF INDIA 

I.559G03SD MILES 



EDUCATION IN INIA. 

By 1891 Census. 



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_ 



Each square represents 100,000 persons 
in India. 

White space represents vast mass of il- 
literate persons. 

Dark lined space represents those who 
can read and write. 

Dark dotted space represents those who 
are under instruction. 

Black portion represents Christians in 
each section. 



RELIGIONS 



OF INDIA. 



2 OZ 700. 000 



HINDDDB 



MAHDMMEDANS 



57,QQG.DQQ 



< 



a 

y 

—1 
u 

DC 



ABORIGINALS 



BUDDHISTS 



CHRISTIANS 



I 
I 



3.300,000 



7100.000 



j 2,300,000 



SIKHS,JA1NB. 

PARBEES. ETC. 



I 



3.4D0.00D 



i4S>ooo,ooo 

Women and Girls of India. 




1 5,000,000 

PDP. DF CANADA | 



Each square represents 5,000,000 women 
and girls of India. 

The five shaded squares represent 25,000, 
000 Indian widows. 



INDIA'S BOYS AND GIRLS. 



O O O O O 







O O o 



*************** 
*************** 
*************** 



*************** 
*************** 
*************** 
******QQ******* 

00000000 
C O O o 
i 

10 
. ooooocooooooooo 
oooocoooooooooo 

* Eacli o rerpesents one million grown-up people in India. 
; Each * represents one million Indian boys and girls (117 millions). 
j The whole diagram represents everybody in India (300 millions). 
I The little dot in the middle represents all the Indian boys and 
iirls that go to Sunday-school of any description (250, 000). 
i 'There are so many boys and girls in India, that if they all stood 
U a line, shoulder to shoulder and great tremendous bridges were 
lade across the sea for them to stand on, they would keach 

IGHT EOUND THE WOBLD! 

j "They would make a huge ring, 25,000 miles long. • And only 
jo children in each mile of that big ring would ever have been in- 
iide of a Sunday-school! Just think!" 



THE POSSIBILITIES 

of Personal WorR. 



If there were only one Christian in the world, and 
he worked for a year and won a friend to Christ, and 
those two continued to win each year another, and 
every man thus brought into the kingdom led an- 
other every year, in thirty-one years every person in 
the world would be won for Christ. 



of 1st 


year. . . 


Christians 


2 


2d 


u 


li 


4 


3d 


(< 


11 


8 


4th 


<( 


li 


16 


5th 


(( 


li 


32 


6th 


11 


li 


64 


7th 


a 


ii 


128 


8th 


ii 


li 


256 


9th 


a 


i( 


512 


10th 


i( 


ii 


1,024 


11th 


li 


li 


2,048 


12th 


a 


11 


4,096 


13th 


u 


li 


8,192 


14th 


a 


ii 


16,384 


15th 


a 


11 


32,768 


16th 


n 


a 


65,536 


17th 


a 


11 


131,072 


18th 


a 


11 


262,144 


19th 


iC 


ii 


524,288 


20th 


(C 


ii 


1,048,576 


21st 


u 


11 


2,097,152 


22d 


a 


11 


4,194,304 


23d 


u 


ti 


8,388,608 


24th 


u 


li 


16,777,216 


25th 


i( 


ii 


33,554,432 


26th 


ii 


11 


67,108,864 


27th 


u 


a 


134,2J7,728 


28th 


n 


ii 


268,435,456 


29th 


" ... 


ii 


536,870,912 


30th 


li 


ii 


1,073,741,824 


31st 


11 


11 


2,147,483,648 


)in "T 


he Studen 


t and the Missionary Problem:' 



I 




\\r^_ 







Vhen he saw the multitudes, he was moved with com- 
ission for them, because they were distressed and 
scattered, as sheep not having a shepherd* Then 
saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly Is 
plenteous, but the laborers s^v^ few." 



BOOKS. 



Books That Will Aid in the Development of a Deeper 
Spiritual Life, Faith, and a Better Under- 
standing of the Scriptures* 



-Bible Readings for Bible Students and for 

the Home and Fireside. Cloth .$1.50 

'i'he Cleansing of the Sanctuary. " 1.50 

Nineteen Hundred Years of Church History, ' ' 1.50 

The Secret of Salvation. " 1.00 

Divine Healing of Soul and Body. " 1.00 

The Kingdom of God, and the One 

Thousand Years' Reign. " 1.00 

L(Mters of Love and Counsel for Our Girls. " 1.00 

Mothers' Counsel to Their Sons. " 1.00 

Familiar Names and Faces. " 1.35 

Is the Negro a Beast? '' .60 

The Great Physician and His Power to Heal. " .50 

Behind the Prison Bars. " .50 

Salvation, Present, Perfect, Now or Never. " .35 

What Shall I Do To Be Saved '^ " .50 

^Todern Spiritualism Exposed. " .50 

Christian Conduct. '' .25 

Salvation Echoes, Song-book. " .35 

Life Sketches of Mother Smith. Paper .10 

Sanctitieation. , " .10 

Boys' Companion. " .15 

Two Works of Grace. ' " .10 

T(»hacco and Its Effects. " .10 

Address, GOSPEL TRUMPET COMPANY, 

Motindsville, W. Va, 



■MlG » 



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